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Text: Jiang Yuxuan
Editor|Jiang Yuxuan
Preface
Have you ever heard of a mysterious parasite capable of turning ordinary snails into "walking dead", manipulating their actions and making them die?
Let's uncover this terrifying and surprising world and discover how these creepy life forms survive and thrive in nature.
Life Cycle
In a humid environment, there is a parasite called Doublethorn that is showing the wonder and complexity of life in an amazing way.
As a parasite, Diplopatodes discoptera requires two hosts to carry out the whole process of life activities. The first is the intermediate host, the snail, and the second is the primary host, the bird. So, how did Diplopodium find and successfully infiltrate these two different hosts?
Everything goes back to the daily life of a snail. When a bird carrying eggs passes over a damp piece of land, the bird may excrete droppings containing the eggs. It so happened that a snail that was looking for food nearby accidentally came across the droppings and accidentally ingested a large number of discs eggs.
Once the snail has swallowed the eggs, the double-disc fluke begins to attack inside the snail. The eggs hatch at the snail's liver, forming a small structure called a sporangia.
The sporangia then divide, expand, and grow in the snail's body. At this time, the double disc fluke no longer relies on itself for energy, but absorbs the important nutrients provided by the snail to maintain its own survival and development.
As the double disc fluke grows in the snail, the effect of the parasite on the snail gradually becomes apparent. The snail, which was relatively quiet, becomes extremely active and easily frightened, and even actively moves to a visible position, as if trying to put itself in danger.
This is because the double disc fluke manipulates the snail's brain to produce strange behavioral responses, making it easier for predators to detect and something even weirder happens. When the double disc fluke reaches a sufficient number, they will exert further pressure on the snail, forcing the latter to approach the predator more aggressively.
In the process, although the snail is well aware of the impending threat, there is nothing it can do to change all this. In this way, the snail not only increases the chances of encountering natural predators, but also gives the double-disc fluke more opportunities to transfer to the next host.
The snail was unfortunately hunted, and the carcass fell into the mouths of various birds flying in the air. These birds ate the flesh of their victims, but may have ingested some spiral-shelled snails that remained on their shells at the same time. Here, the double-disc flukes that sleep in these shells finally find a new home.
At this point, the life cycle of Doublethorn has just begun. The unique and complex ecological phenomenon of the double-disc flukes that continue to breed in birds will wait for the time to return to all parts of the planet, and this unique and complex ecological phenomenon has undoubtedly opened up a new perspective on the natural world, and at the same time made people aware of the intricate relationships between various seemingly insignificant organisms in the natural environment.
The secret of the double disc fluke
After a period of growth and development, they hatch into larvae and find suitable locations in various parts of the snail's digestive system.
When the cercariae parasitic near the snail's head matures, it will invade the snail's antennae tissue, and take some way to affect the snail's brain activity, changing its daily Xi and Xi habits, so that the originally quiet snail becomes extremely active, and happily climbs towards high places or bright lights.
Snails infected with Diplopatodes d'Obatoma have a marked increase in their speed of movement, especially when threatened or otherwise stimulated, as the parasite benefits from controlling its victims.
At this point, snails are often unable to make wise choices, because the double disc fluke will have a great attraction for snails, causing them to ignore the danger and fall into the path of self-destruction, in order to ensure their own survival and development, this parasite needs to continue to complete the life process in different hosts to ensure the smooth continuation of the offspring.
One of the most critical steps is to use the special group of birds to attract birds through the control of the host's behavior. At the end of a short life course, the discoid fluke leaves behind many eggs, and then as the bird's droppings are scattered in various environments, it will seek a suitable host again to start a new round of life cycle.
Trematodes discs are highly intelligent and evolutionarily adaptable microscopic organisms. Although the probability of such an event is low at present, it is undoubtedly a wake-up call.
Remind us to be vigilant while enjoying food, avoid eating unsterilized ingredients, and reduce the occurrence of food safety hazards. At the same time, we should also pay attention to the importance of protecting the natural ecological balance.
Through scientific and reasonable methods, we will explore how to effectively inhibit the spread of such microorganisms. I hope that in the future, there will be no more such cruel and helpless conflicts and contests between humans and nature.
epilogue
No matter how hard you try to protect yourself and your offspring, the parasites in nature and their intelligence are still filled with fear.