Mind Parasites

Mind Parasites

A classical view of a well-adapted parasite is that it is an animal (or other organism) that is able to live off a host without killing the host. As parasite life cycles are more carefully investigated it becomes clear that the parasite:host interaction is subtler than previously assumed with many examples in which a parasite is manipulating the behaviour of its host to advantage the parasite.

Here is a complex life cycle of a digenean flatworm involving two intermediate hosts with the normal behaviour of one (an ant) dramatically changed.

This National Geographic film shows amazing pictures of a number of parasite-host interactions (some also shown in the screens below). It also (for the interested) shows, in the second part of the film, the challenges facing the photographer .