Hey, smarty pants. Right now, I'm taking a nature hike in the woods.
I'm also looking for bugs, beetles, and insects to bring home and study.
So far, I've got a ladybug, a cricket, and...
Ooh, what's this tiny little thing?
Yikes, I definitely don't want to bring this one home.
Smarty pants, what's a tiny creature you find in the woods that you're best avoiding?
Is it A, a firefly?
B, a butterfly. Or C, a tick.
If you said a tick, you're right.
But why wouldn't I want to hang out with a tick?
Yeah, what's wrong with me?
Um, no offense, talking tick, but you're like nature's vampires.
What are you saying?
I sleep in a coffin, I only come out at night, and can't see my reflection in a mirror?
No. I mean, you like to drink blood.
Oh, that. Right. Hey, I gotta do what I gotta do to survive.
But I'm definitely not a vampire.
Nope, you're worse.
Because unlike vampires, you're real.
Smarty pants, there's a word for a creature who survives by living on or in another creature, called a host, and deriving nutrients at the host's expense.
This word starts with the letter P.
key. Any guesses what it is?
Is it a paragraph, a paralegal, or a parasite?
The answer is parasite.
Of course, some adults listening might also accept paralegal, but I digress.
Ticks are parasites that live off the blood of other living creatures, like me.
I would totally live off of you, trusty narrator.
Backing away slowly.
But before I run away, I'm curious.
How do ticks drink your blood?
How many kinds of ticks are there?
And what can happen if you get bit by a tick?
Come a little closer.
I'll show you. Backing away slowly.
It's time for another whiff of science on Who's Smarted?
Who's Smarted? Who's smart?
Is it you? Is it me?
Is it science or history?
Listen up, everyone.
We make smarting lots of fun on Who Smarted?
Hi, Smarty Pants. It's the trusty narrator, the host of Who Smarted?
First, a big welcome to all our new listeners.
Welcome to the Smarty family.
Here's a nice five -star review from one of you.
Hi, trusty. This is my new favorite podcast. I listen in the car with my sister and even before bed.
I'm telling all my friends, too.
Sean P., Ohio. Thanks, Sean.
on, and that's a great idea.
So SmartyFam, would you mind doing me a favor?
Tell one friend or another parent or an educator today about Who Smarted?
Because the only thing that's better than listening to Who Smarted is listening to Who Smarted with a friend.
So I'm here in the forest with a talking tick, and I'm wondering, how do ticks find food?
We usually wait for an animal to pass by.
And then when the animal brushes past us, we grab hold and dig in.
Wow, that sounds disgusting.
Smartypants, how many different species of ticks do you think there are?
Are there 250, 550, or 850?
If you said 850, you're right.
850 different kinds of ticks.
That's a lot of ticks.
There might be 850 species, but there's really only two types.
Hard ticks and soft ticks.
Soft ticks get their name from their soft, round exterior, or exoskeleton.
Me? I'm a hard tick, so my back has a covering called a scutum.
I gotta say, it's pretty shiny.
Thanks. Also, my head or capitulum sticks out in the front.
That's where my mouth parts are, including my two fang -like churrusulae that I use to make a hole in the skin so I can eat.
Soft ticks usually have their mouth parts under their bodies.
Also, hard ticks like me, we feed until we're full.
Then we leave our host in order to shed our skin Does shedding your skin hurt?
Nah, when we shed our skin, also known as molting We're shedding an exoskeleton we've outgrown You wouldn't want to wear the same shirt you wore when you were two, would you?
Nope, I notice you have some hook -like claws at the end of your hairy legs Smarty pants, what does a tick need claws for?
Is it to A, grab and hang on to prey?
B, walk quietly? Or C, open doors?
Fortunately, ticks cannot open doors.
The answer is A. My claws give me a strong grip to hold on to my prey.
They're perfect for grabbing on to plant stems and animal hairs.
Like most parasites, ticks are well adapted to their hosts, Even if our hosts aren't so psyched to have us.
Speaking of your legs, how many legs does an adult tick have, Smarty Pants?
Four, six, or eight?
If you said eight legs, you're right.
That's because ticks are just like...
Spiders, like me. Hey, aren't you the spider from our spiders episode?
Oh, hey, Trustee. Thanks again for stopping that girl from squishing me.
My pleasure. But wait, what do ticks have to do with spiders?
Ticks are arachnids and part of the arachnida family, just like spiders, mites, and scorpions.
Both spiders and adult ticks have eight legs, while also lacking antenna and wings.
FYI, ticks aren't born with eight legs.
When a female tick lays thousands of eggs, larvae with only six legs hatch out.
It's not until we grow into nymphs, which is like a tick's teenage years, that we have eight legs.
Wow. Smartypants, could you imagine waking up as a teenager to find you've suddenly grown two extra legs?
That would be tricky to find pants.
Since we can't fly, ticks rely on our legs to crawl everywhere.
After a tick hatches, it crawls up a blade of grass, twig, or plant stem and waits for an animal to pass by.
Then it's dinner time.
Larvae feed off their hosts for two to four days.
Smarty Pants, besides food, a .k .a.
blood, from a host animal or human What else do ticks need to survive?
Is it A, high humidity B, low temperatures Or C, pizza Nom nom nom nom nom The answer is A, ticks need high humidity to survive It's trusty narrators who need pizza to survive Tick eggs tend to hatch in the spring and summer is a tick's favorite season because it's humid and there's lots of animals, aka meals, around.
We tend to live in wooded areas.
Are there specific animals that you prefer as hosts?
Absolutely! Tick larva, or babies, feed on small rodents, birds, and reptiles.
Nymphs feed on squirrels, birds, or rabbits, and adult ticks, oh we love feeding on cows, elk, dogs, sheep, deer, and even humans.
Backing away slowly.
Speaking of deer, Here, I've noticed that ticks are often associated with deer.
That's because, Deer Narrator, deer are one of our favorite and most plentiful food sources.
If there's lots of deer around, you can be sure there's also lots of ticks.
And then you just latch on, make a hole with your special mouth parts, and enjoy a nice blood meal for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
Actually, while humans typically have three meals a day, Ticks only have three blood meals in our lifespan.
Whoa. Wait. Did you just say ticks only have three meals in their entire lives?
Yep. Ticks only live for about two years.
We need to have one blood meal for each stage in our life cycle.
One as a larva. One as a nymph.
And one as an adult.
Smarty Pants, can you imagine having only three meals in your entire life?
What would you pick?
Talking Tick, how can you survive on just three meals?
Well, after we ticks gorge on blood from a host, we swell up.
Our bodies actually get 20 to 50 times bigger.
In fact, we get so filled up, our legs no longer touch our host. This causes us to drop off the host's body so we can just sit and digest. We can spend nearly our entire lives waiting for a host to feed on.
And we can survive with no food at all for a very long time.
I see. Is there a trick to finding food?
Oh yeah. Ticks are usually questing where a lot of animals are.
Questing? That sounds like what heroic knights in armor do.
Questing is the word used to describe ticks searching for food.
If there's lots of animals where we're questing, there's a better chance of snagging a host. But like I said, we can wait a long time.
As long as no predators come.
I thought you were the predators.
What animals would possibly want to eat a tick?
Birds like the red -billed oxpecker love eating ticks.
Also wasps and spiders.
It's an arachnid eat arachnid world out there.
Okay, so there are definitely dangers out there for ticks.
But for humans, there is definitely danger from ticks.
Smartypants, do you know why ticks are so dangerous to humans?
The answer, right after this quick break.
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Now back to Who Smarted?
I'm here with a talking tick to find out what makes ticks tick.
But I know not to get too close because ticks are parasites that feed off of other creatures, like trusty narrators.
Oh, come on. You have lots of blood.
You can spare a little for a teeny tiny tick.
It's not the blood loss I'm worried about talking tick.
It's something else.
Smartypants, do you know what it is?
Is it lemon disease, lime disease, or melon disease?
If you said lime disease, nice job.
Oh, that, yeah, that's not good.
Smartypants, the reason it's so important to protect yourself against ticks is that they carry the bacteria for Lyme disease.
Once Lyme disease has been passed on by the tick, it can affect your skin, your joints, and your nervous system.
Symptoms can include fevers, headaches, fatigue, and a skin rash.
People with Lyme disease should see a doctor for treatment, which may include antibiotics.
Of course, the best way to avoid Lyme disease is to protect protect yourself from ticks.
But how? Although this goes against my best interests, here are some ways to avoid ticks.
First, if you're going to be in the woods, always wear long pants and boots.
Spraying yourself with insect repellent is also a great idea.
Of course, being so small, a tick might still get you.
If you've been bitten by a tick, you'll probably notice a red circle on on your body with alternating white and red circles around it.
It kind of looks like a bullseye or the symbol for the store Target.
But what if you actually find a tick on you?
For that, you're going to want to have an adult help you remove the tick with tweezers.
After the tick is removed, wash the spot with soap and water and apply an antiseptic.
Humans and other creatures have been trying to avoid ticks for a long time.
But how long do you think ticks have been around?
Have they been here for A, 350 million years, B, 400 million years, or C, 450 million years?
If you said C, 450 million years, you're right.
Scientists have found fossilized evidence that ticks are older than our fellow parasites, mites, who have been here for 380 million years, and bedbugs, who've only been here for 325 million years.
They're all newbies compared to us.
I had no idea that ticks have been around that long.
That's around the time prehistoric sharks were swimming.
One last thing. I couldn't help but notice that you have no eyes.
How do you crawl around and find a host if you can't see it?
While ticks may not have eyes, we have other senses that help us find our hosts.
Our first pair of legs acts as sensors to find heat and carbon dioxide.
When our sensors pick up these signals, we know a host is coming.
Ooh, I sense a deer coming.
Trusty narrator, I might need you to leave so you don't scare it away.
Backing away slowly.
A big aloha shoutout to Brody in Kaneohe, Hawaii You said you and your family learn so much from Who Smarted and that is exactly what we love to hear Thanks for smarting with us Brody This episode Tix was written by Sarah Swetek and voiced by Adam Tix Davis Charlotte Creepy Crawly Cone and Jerry Colbert Technical direction and sound design by Josh Host -Han Who Smarted is recorded and mixed at the Relic Room Studios.
Our associate producer is Max Questing -Kamaski.
The theme song is by Brian Spidey Sense Suarez, with lyrics written and performed by Adam Tex -Davis.
Who Smarted was created and produced by Adam Tex -Davis and Jerry Kolger.
This has been an Atomic Entertainment production.
