The mark of a good hunter is patience.
The ability to lay wait in tall grasses. Sense the prevailing winds, camouflaged by the surroundings. Positioned along familiar trails. And then -- strike.
It’s the ultimate test of a species’ survival since only the most successful survive, while the weaker, less cunning die.
But this year, the hunter is becoming the hunted as a U of A researcher sets out with a simple piece of flannel and a pair of tweezers.
His prey -- the vampiric tick.
Don’t scoff. The tick, second only to the mosquito as a disease carrier is gaining further notoriety in Alberta especially after last year’s discovery of Ixodes pacificus -- a species not normally found in the province.
The infamous bloodsucker is better known as the western blacklegged tick and is a carrier of Lyme disease, which is sometimes mistaken as Multiple Sclerosis.
Usually found in B.C. and the U.S., the black-legged ticks are not native to Alberta, but the discovery of 10 of the ticks by veterinarians has prompted an exodus to the five geographic regions of the province -- the mission is to analyze and document tick patterns with the final objective to be to create a map of different tick species, where they live and what diseases they carry.
“What we want to do this summer is get out and check around the province. We’ll check cattle and grazing areas and log what species are here,” said Daniel Fitzgerald.
A lab technologist with Alberta government, Fitzgerald’s tick study will not only form the basis for his master’s thesis, but more importantly, will be an effective tool useful to agricultural leaders and farmers in showing the types of ecological conditions most favourable to the varied tick species already here.
Cattle producers, whose animals can be weakened by tick species that spread Lyme disease and other illnesses, can use the collected data to better understand one of nature’s most vile pests.
Considering the discovery of this new tick species, the mapping will also determine if the changing climate may also lead to previously unknown species in Alberta becoming more commonplace.
“What started this all off were the ticks that carry Lyme disease and it got us thinking about looking at ticks a little closer.”
Backed with provincial funding, Fitzgerald will set out trap ticks as well.
But how does one trap so crafty a hunter?
Flannel.
Since ticks, regardless of species and there are several, cling to grasses and then latch on to passing hosts, all Fitzgerald needs to do is spread a piece of flannel over an area and wait.
The ticks will adhere to the fabric thinking it is a potential walking host. Other methods include tweezers and a keen eye. That’s it. The rest is travel and patience.
Ticks are not actually insects, but belong to the arachnid family. Their survival is dependent on a host -- they're parasites -- and feed on an animal's blood or body fluids.
Ticks hatch into six-legged larvae which live and feed on animals such as mice, deer, squirrels, livestock, and any humans who enter the tick habitat for about a week before detaching then molting anywhere from one week to eight months later.
The larvae, now emerge as eight-legged nymphs and engorge themselves for three to 11 days on their host, detach, and molt about a month later -- depending on the species and environmental conditions.
From there, it becomes an adult, climbs grass shoots and plants and hold their legs up "sensing" and "looking" for prey. Ticks are attracted to their hosts by detecting carbon dioxide and heat through special organs located on the first pair of the tick's legs (Haller's organs). Male and female ticks usually mate while attached to the host. A few weeks later, the engorged female detaches from the host and lays her eggs -- 1,000 – 8,000 eggs -- on a leaf.
Since there are several species of ticks, Fitzgerald is focusing his attention on hard ticks such as dermacentor albipictus and variables.
“We don’t know if we can cover the entire breadth of the province, but we would like to try. We want to find out if the ticks in Alberta do have certain environmental conditions they favour.”
But don’t think the discovery of this back-legged tick is all that’s here. Fitzgerald said Alberta is host, no pun intended, to at least 11 distinct species, perhaps one of the best known as the moose tick or winter tick.
“We need something to compare back to,” enthused Fitzgerald of the benchmark study.
Future accounts will be able to use his research to gauge if there is a surge in tick populations and their habitats
Fitzgerald will also be looking for ticks that carry a disease called anaplasmosis, a condition common in the U.S., but has not made significant inroads into Canada. Anaplasmosis can make cattle ill. From a beef perspective, the parasite can inhibit the bovine’s ability to gain weight. In dairy, it can curb milk production.
Proprietor and published by Bowes Publishers Limited at 4504 - 61 Avenue, Leduc, Alberta, Canada T9E3Z1
