9781422275832

Ultimate Danger Ultimate Danger Ultimate

Chapter 1

Dangerous Bloodsuckers

S ome insects love blood, and perhaps none love it more than fleas, mosquitoes, ticks, and lice. All of them need life-sustaining blood to survive. Like tiny vampires, they’ll fly or hop onto a person or animal and drink the blood of their prey. Although there are hundreds of thousands of insect species, only 10,000 or so feed on the blood of live animals. Mosquitoes are always thirsty. They are slender and have long legs. They also have a long proboscis , a straw-like appendage that they use to slurp blood. There are so many ticks in the world that it is hard to keep track of them all. They’ll land on you and your pets. Some even carry diseases that can kill. Lice are creepy little things that nest on you and feed on your blood. For many, fleas, mosquitoes, ticks, and lice are the vilest of creatures—true-born parasites that can infect humans and animals with a variety of diseases. All can unleash a variety of terrible ailments that can kill or, or at the very least, make you very sick.

Dangerous Bloodsuckers

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