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What good are Ticks?

April 26, 2017good ticks

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What good are Ticks?

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by Jan Weaver Sometimes in casual conversation I will mention that I am an entomologist – a scientist who studies insects and related arthropods. If I mention it this time of year, someone will seize on that fact and want to know: “What good are ticks?” Several thoughts flash through my mind in quick succession – Uh oh, the tick question again . . . Hey, ticks are not my fault just because I study insects . . . Do you have any idea how many species of arthropods there are, I cant know about all of them . . . Well, I did take a Medical/ Veterinary Entomology class . . . Yeah, but that was 20 years ago . . . Ok, but you have to tell them something . . . But I don’t know anything about the role of ticks . . . Nevermind, wing it and hope they don’t ask for specifics. “Well, ticks are important to the bacteria that cause Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever and Lyme disease.” Not surprisingly my questioner usually finds this explanation highly unsatisfactory. Anyway, this year, as I was picking tic