Parasites should take a lesson from symbiotes and not kill their hosts like dumbasses.
👁👄👁
Submitted 1 month ago by MataVatnik@lemmy.world to science_memes@mander.xyz
https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/6135c19c-0c8d-48f0-9400-4b7729ec7ed7.jpeg
Comments
Kolanaki@pawb.social 1 month ago
Kitathalla@lemy.lol 1 month ago
So, interesting and maybe-not-so-fun fact? Most parasites that kill their hosts do so without caring because they can survive elsewhere. We call it a reservoir of infection.
REALLY fun fact, there’s some cool life cycles involved. You remember our old friend anthrax? One of its favorite tricks is killing its host, the zebra. When it dies, the anthrax bacteria go down into the soil beneath the corpse, and put on a fresh new coat of paint and open up shop again. Only, this time, they act as a super friendly bacteria that participates in the nitrogen cycle and ensure that the plants in the soil can get everything they’d ever want out of that oh-so-convenient zebra corpse rotting away up above. Why do they do this? Because in their ‘friendly’ infection of the plants growing (oh, did I forget to mention what plants they infect/cooperate with? It’s grass), they get offered right up to the hungry mouths of the next zebra to come along and see an exceptionally vibrant area of green grass.
bane_killgrind@slrpnk.net 1 month ago
I would watch this sequel to osmosis jones
nichtburningturtle@feddit.org 1 month ago
Host gets eaten by even bigger potential host. It’s hosts all the way up.
OldManBOMBIN@lemmy.world 1 month ago
But if, as they say, “it’s elephants all the way down,” while simultaneously being larger and larger hosts all the way up, as you’ve postulated here, then that must mean that… I don’t know. Something. Something wonderful.
Or terrifying SCARY MUSIC
nichtburningturtle@feddit.org 1 month ago
Assuming that the growth on both sides is identical, it would mean that once you put the flat Earth on its side it would be balanced, as all things should be.
xwolpertinger@lemmy.world 1 month ago
Parasitoids: I’ll do it again
Welt@lazysoci.al 1 month ago
If it kills the host, it’s not a very successful parasite, or it’s a parasitoid as only one other commenter has picked up. It’s not in parasites’ interest to kill their hosts, it usually happens when they infect a non-preferred host and the system responds differently, like the pork tapeworm Taenia solium which doesn’t kill pigs but can be lethal in humans.
Agent641@lemmy.world 1 month ago
A superior parasite would keep the host alive for hundreds of years past it’s normal lifespan, while ensuring that nothing of the host survives.
Bytemeister@lemmy.world 1 month ago
Nope. Evolution doesn’t really work like that. A ‘successful’ organism simply needs to have offspring capable of producing more offspring. In the case of a parasite, it just needs to keep the host alive long enough to infect another host. Anything more than that and you start running into quality vs quantity issues. A longer living, self limiting parasite isn’t going to reproduce as fast (as size longevity goes up, reproductive rates generally go down)
A fast acting, highly transmissible parasite is generally going to outcompete slower parasites.
stebo02@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 month ago
reminds me of a certain US president…
Generica@lemmy.world 1 month ago
Leopards meet face
MataVatnik@lemmy.world 1 month ago
Parasites ate my face (I love rimming)
Generica@lemmy.world 1 month ago
Everybody Loves Rimming starring Ray Romano and Jeff Stryker
Ketchup@reddthat.com 1 month ago
Surprised Pikasite
redwattlebird@lemmings.world 1 month ago
On a similar note, I visited the medical museum in Bangkok today and it had a whole section on parasites. I’ll never be the same after having viewed that photograph of someone, cheeks spread, and with a pile of worms spilling out.
MataVatnik@lemmy.world 1 month ago
YarHarSuperstar@lemmy.world 1 month ago
Lol! Fair enough!
Swedneck@discuss.tchncs.de 1 month ago
meanwhile chad gut bacteria help us digest food and are actively vital to us being healthy
Yondoza@sh.itjust.works 1 month ago
They also quite demanding of what types of food to eat to the point where they make us crave what they crave.
psx_crab@lemmy.zip 1 month ago
No, gut bacteria, i’m not eating fries, this is the third times of the day you want fries!
Swedneck@discuss.tchncs.de 1 month ago
it is generally good to eat the things that your gut can digest