Of Mice and Botflies
October 6, 2022 1:29 PM Subscribe
TW: photos of botfly larvae.
"Over the decades I’ve mostly grown inured to the gruesome things that field biologists inevitably encounter, but sometimes my stomach does a small two-step at the sight of a full-grown botfly larva, softly turning beneath its mouse-skin blanket. My digestive distress soon dissipates, but a deeper psychic angst does not."
"Over the decades I’ve mostly grown inured to the gruesome things that field biologists inevitably encounter, but sometimes my stomach does a small two-step at the sight of a full-grown botfly larva, softly turning beneath its mouse-skin blanket. My digestive distress soon dissipates, but a deeper psychic angst does not."
I had a cat die after getting out and eating a mouse with botfly larvae. She was always hunting and stalking around the house, so I guess she went doing what she loved.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 3:29 PM on October 6, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by The Underpants Monster at 3:29 PM on October 6, 2022 [2 favorites]
Am I relieved to learn the botfly is not some abomination from Boston Dynamics? Only a little.
posted by hypnogogue at 3:58 PM on October 6, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by hypnogogue at 3:58 PM on October 6, 2022 [1 favorite]
TW: photos of botfly larvae. [more inside]
That is kind of the issue here.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 6:18 PM on October 6, 2022 [17 favorites]
That is kind of the issue here.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 6:18 PM on October 6, 2022 [17 favorites]
I have had trouble finding a map of their range that doesn't just, like, color large swaths of the world in as with a crayon. How prevalent are botflies in the parts of the world where they're found? How is their territory changing over time? Are they mostly limited to places near cattle (which is ever-expanding until that's all that's left to fill the insatiable need for meat and dairy)? Or what?
posted by aniola at 6:57 PM on October 6, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by aniola at 6:57 PM on October 6, 2022 [1 favorite]
Tropical species are moving northward in U.S. as winters warm
Saiga antelope : "By June, adult numbers were reduced to around 15% of the pre-calving numbers of this population, representing a loss of around 62% of the global population of this critically endangered species."
posted by jeffburdges at 9:24 PM on October 6, 2022 [1 favorite]
Saiga antelope : "By June, adult numbers were reduced to around 15% of the pre-calving numbers of this population, representing a loss of around 62% of the global population of this critically endangered species."
posted by jeffburdges at 9:24 PM on October 6, 2022 [1 favorite]
Interesting--this feels like an updated, more accessible cousin to Stephen J. Gould's "Nonmoral Nature" essay.
posted by Calzephyr at 9:37 PM on October 6, 2022
posted by Calzephyr at 9:37 PM on October 6, 2022
How prevalent are botflies in the parts of the world where they're found?
Good news! The botfly species in the US don't parasitize humans, so you have nothing to worry about.
I've pulled out a few while skinning rabbits out in the Mojave Desert, far from any farms. I believe they are endemic in native mammal populations including deer, rabbits, and squirrels. And yeah, they're pretty gross in person.
posted by ryanrs at 10:20 PM on October 6, 2022 [3 favorites]
Good news! The botfly species in the US don't parasitize humans, so you have nothing to worry about.
I've pulled out a few while skinning rabbits out in the Mojave Desert, far from any farms. I believe they are endemic in native mammal populations including deer, rabbits, and squirrels. And yeah, they're pretty gross in person.
posted by ryanrs at 10:20 PM on October 6, 2022 [3 favorites]
Getting beyond the ick-factor, that's a thoughtful essay on an old philosophical problem. [Darwin notably reflected “I cannot persuade myself that a beneficent and omnipotent God would have designedly created the Ichneumonidae [a family of parasitoid wasps] with the express intention of their feeding within the living bodies of caterpillars.”] Everyone gotta make a living from the opportunities that present: I try not to be judgmental.
posted by BobTheScientist at 1:24 AM on October 7, 2022
posted by BobTheScientist at 1:24 AM on October 7, 2022
This article gave me cause to ponder whether billionaires are the botfly larvae in the groin of human culture. On reflection, I think they're probably the tapeworm larvae making Swiss cheese of its brain.
posted by flabdablet at 4:42 AM on October 7, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by flabdablet at 4:42 AM on October 7, 2022 [2 favorites]
Good news! The botfly species in the US don't parasitize humans, so you have nothing to worry about.
I appreciate your answer, I learned something. But it doesn't address my question for me. It just means now I want my world botfly map to specify species, too!
posted by aniola at 9:45 AM on October 7, 2022
I appreciate your answer, I learned something. But it doesn't address my question for me. It just means now I want my world botfly map to specify species, too!
posted by aniola at 9:45 AM on October 7, 2022
Botflies were put on earth by god same as us. Billionaires were not.
posted by bleep at 9:50 AM on October 7, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by bleep at 9:50 AM on October 7, 2022 [1 favorite]
We had a cancer scare with our dog that turned out to be a botfly larvae completely embedded in his armpit. The vet was very excited when they took it out as they are rare in Maine. They said that the eggs sometimes turn up on mulch that gets brought up from California and they gave us the still-live larvae in a sealed test tube so I could show my daughter who likes gross stuff.
posted by merocet at 10:47 AM on October 7, 2022 [3 favorites]
posted by merocet at 10:47 AM on October 7, 2022 [3 favorites]
Aniola, what do you mean by prevalence? The larvae are very seasonal. In the Mojave, I think if you are a rabbit, you have a decent chance of harboring a botfly most years. It’s not like 1 in 100 rabbits get it. It’s probably more like half.
posted by ryanrs at 5:53 PM on October 7, 2022
posted by ryanrs at 5:53 PM on October 7, 2022
I would be happy with any metric as long as it was defined, really. Here are some example maps of the prevalence of various types of ticks in Europe to show what I mean.
posted by aniola at 7:04 PM on October 7, 2022
posted by aniola at 7:04 PM on October 7, 2022
Good news! The botfly species in the US don't parasitize humans, so you have nothing to worry about.
I mean, unless you have pets you really care about.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 8:10 PM on October 7, 2022
I mean, unless you have pets you really care about.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 8:10 PM on October 7, 2022
Aniola, iNaturalist: Bot Flies has a map based on crowd-sourced observations.
Keep in mind iNaturalist maps are really Animal Prevalence * Naturalist Prevalence. You get more observations where there are more people, and the human factor can dominate the map.
posted by ryanrs at 1:10 AM on October 8, 2022
Keep in mind iNaturalist maps are really Animal Prevalence * Naturalist Prevalence. You get more observations where there are more people, and the human factor can dominate the map.
posted by ryanrs at 1:10 AM on October 8, 2022
Yay, thanks! Same flaws most maps I know about seem to have. What a great map! And it even has pictures!
posted by aniola at 9:11 AM on October 8, 2022
posted by aniola at 9:11 AM on October 8, 2022
« Older without regulators, discrimination against... | "People today begin to ask the question: what are... Newer »
This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments
posted by bleep at 2:04 PM on October 6, 2022