If nothing happens, it goes back down to the colony the next day and he returns the next evening and he will do that again and again until a sheep comes by and happens to eat that blade of grass with the ant attached, and when that happens the parasite gets into the sheep, specifically into its bile duct, which is exactly where it wants to be because that's the only place it can reproduce.ĬURWOOD: So, OK, a couple of questions here. MCAULIFFE: Trematode are basically a parasitic worm, but they have three hosts often, or two hosts, different species, and there's a very interesting case of a trematode that when it gets into an ant's brain it instructs the ant to leave its colony at night and climb to the top of a blade of grass, lock on to it, and just hang there overnight. First, talk to me about trematodes and their relationship with ants and why this shows that these parasites can affect the way that animals behave. So we're going to go at this sort of one piece at a time. Welcome to Living on Earth.ĬURWOOD: Your book is really fascinating, and, well, really requires a whole different way of thinking to absorb it. In her new book, 'This is Your Brain on Parasites', author Kathleen McAuliffe describes the numerous links between animals and parasites, how they've co-evolved, and how parasites may actually affect the behavior of humans and other animals. They've been living on us and in us and their other host organisms for millions of years. They range from microscopic bacteria and viruses to 50 foot long tapeworms.

CURWOOD: It's Living on Earth, I'm Steve Curwood.

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