These nasty little bloodsuckers have sunk
their razor-sharp mouths into you
for the last time.
Today we're killing every tick on Earth.
These parasites are nearly indestructible.
They can live underwater for three days
and even survive prolonged
periods of drought.
And they can go without a blood meal
for up to two years.
Yeah, killing them won't be as easy
as you might have thought.
If you want to take out all the ticks,
you'll have to have the patience of a tick.
What does that mean?
They prefer to lie in wait on blades of grass,
preparing for that perfect moment to strike.
When a host walks past,
they latch on and sink those barbed mouths
into a thin piece of skin.
But if we squished every tick
out of existence,
Alright, tuck your pants into your socks
and get your gloves on.
It's time to get to work.
So how are we going
to get rid of every tick?
Right now, people use a pesticide
called permethrin to kill these tiny arachnids.
But blanketing the world
with pesticides would be dangerous for humanity.
These poisons can destroy your liver
and irritate your nose and lungs.
Alright, so what else is on the table?
Well, ticks are attracted to carbon dioxide.
You could place dry ice into a bucket
with a strip of masking tape around the edge.
Keep that sticky side of the tape up.
As the carbon dioxide draws them in,
they'll get stuck,
making it easy for you to end their lives.
But that'll only work for a few hours.
No, if you want them gone for good,
you'll have to think on a microscopic level.
Scientists developed genetically modified mosquitos in the Florida Keys
to curb the natural mosquito population.
The modified mosquitos passed on
the mutated genes to the next generations,
eventually killing them off.
Maybe Frankenticks aren't the most ethical solution.
What if we got other animals
to do our dirty work for us?
We could release natural predators
like Guinea fowl and chickens
into infested areas to feast on the ticks.
But they can only eat so many at a time,
and eventually, these animals could become new hosts.
But if we did manage to kill off every tick on the planet,
it could positively affect public health.
Some ticks can carry Lyme disease,
a condition that can cause nerve damage,
facial paralysis and brain swelling.
A 2022 study stated that 14% of the global population
has been infected with it thanks to ticks.
Wiping out ticks could help prevent the spread of this disease.
But this could end up doing more harm than good.
Ticks are a disease vector,
an organism that carries bacteria
and deadly pathogens that are spread to other organisms.
And without ticks helping control populations,
ecosystems could become overrun
with animals all competing
for the same dwindling resources.
No ticks would also mean reptiles,
amphibians, and birds would have less to eat.
This could have a domino effect
that might spell the end of entire habitats.
Food chains could be disrupted across the planet,
and over time we would witness
mass extinctions of plant and animal species.
As annoying and devasting as they are,
we need ticks around.
But what if evolution took a turn for the worse,
and ticks became the size of humans?
Find somewhere safe to hide and keep watching,
because that's a story for another WHAT IF.