Parasite Rex: Inside the Bizarre World of Nature's Most Dangerous Creatures

Carl Zimmer

Whats in it for me? Learn why

parasites deserve our sympathy and
admiration.
Its an unfortunate truth that we humans reserve a particular level of disgust for
parasites. To be considered a parasite is to be counted among the lowest
creatures possible: blood-sucking mooches who get a free ride off the hard work
off their hosts.

But this view of parasites is as irrational as it is simplistic, and for a long time
even actively hindered our scientific understanding of parasites. In fact, its in
your best interest to come to terms with the existence of parasites, since you
very likely have some living inside you right now!

If anything, rather than turning our noses up at parasites, we should

be thankful for the way they balance our delicate ecosystems and all the
wonderful diversity theyve brought to our species.
These blinks will give you an intimate look into the fascinating world of
parasites, from their stages of life and metamorphoses to the strategies they use
in order to survive on our hostile planet.

In these blinks, youll find out

how some parasites turn their hosts into zombies;

why many parasites castrate their hosts; and
why you should thank a parasite for its role in the evolution
of sexual intercourse.

Parasites often pass through many life

cycles before they reach their final
form.
Almost every animal on the planet will one day play host to a parasite. And yet,
despite their ubiquity, parasites remained a mystery for scientists for thousands
of years.
Back in the days of the ancient Greeks, parasites were thought to have generated
spontaneously within and by the bodies they are inhabiting. It seemed like the
most plausible explanation at the time since parasites had only ever been
observed within the bodies of their hosts, never actually as they entered the
body.

The ancient Greeks erroneous beliefs about parasites were due primarily to a
lack of information: the life cycles of parasites are highly complicated and unlike
anything humans knew, which made them more elusive.

This all changed in the 1830s, when Johann Steenstrup began studying the
mystery of flukes: scientists knew that flukes laid eggs, but nobody had seen a
baby fluke in its host.

In his experiments, Steenstrup showed that the fully grown, leaf-shaped flukes
found in the livers of sheep (or another host) were actually the final stage of a
single animals complex life cycle.

Streenstrup observed that the eggs laid by adult flukes within their hosts
actually escaped the hosts bodies and later hatched in water. Once hatched,
they appeared to be covered by fine hairs and swam around in the water until
they penetrated a snail.

Once inside the snail, these parasites transformed yet again into something
Streenstrup thought resembled a shapeless bag, swollen with embryos of yet
more flukes.

These embryos, called the Kings yellow worms, then transform yet again into
missile-tailed cercariae, i.e., swimming parasite larvae. The cercariae then
look for another host another snail or a vertebrate host like a sheep inside of
which they finally develop into mature flukes.
Armed with the knowledge of these strange transformations, scientists could
finally discard the notion that parasites generated spontaneously.

Despite what some scientists believe,

parasites are highly complex creatures.
The thought of parasites fills many of us with absolute disgust. In fact, for a long
time, even scientists considered them too lowly to study.
This idea was epitomized in 1879, when the zoologist Ray Lankester claimed
that parasites seemed to shun evolution by developing backwards.

Lankester looked at organic life as a Christmas tree-shaped hierarchy, with us

glorious human beings the most developed of the species at the very top.
The branches below represent the development of other species.

Lankesters diagram also included drooping branches to represent species that

appeared to have climbed down the tree, i.e., degenerated. He believed that
degenerated life forms, like parasites, might have been more complex in the
past, but became less developed as time went on.
His favorite example was Sacculina carcini, a parasite that, when outside
the host, appears to be a barnacle. However, once inside a suitable host, the
parasite degenerates, losing its legs, tails, and even its mouth!
Lankesters view on parasites led to an underestimation of their complexity,
thus sparking an opinion of parasites that hindered research by scientists such
as Michael Sukhdeo.

Sukhdeo dedicated decades of his life to studying the mechanisms parasites use
to navigate within their hosts bodies, and was particularly intrigued by the
question of how theyre able to reach the organs where they finally make their
homes and lay their eggs.

He came to the conclusion that a parasites movement as is the case among

animals in general depends on programmed behavior, i.e., genetically
inherited stimulus-response reactions, even more so than that of free-living
creatures.
In spite of his groundbreaking work, Sukhdeo had to endure the disrespect of
researchers who were more interested in animal behavior, focusing on
vertebrates because parasites seemed to be too primitive to have behavior at all.

Yet, while he might not have been around to enjoy it, Sukhdeo had the last
laugh: over time parasites have adapted clever and complex ways to fool their
hosts immune systems, survive and thrive.

So now that science appreciates parasites as a complex life form worthy of

study, the following blinks will show what weve learned about how they survive
and thrive.
Parasites have developed complex
ways to interact with their hosts
immune systems.
Just like animals fight off invaders in their territory, our bodies immune
systems defend us against invading organisms, such as bacteria, viruses and
parasites. And sometimes, these invaders fight back.

In fact, each and every parasite has its own strategy for overcoming the immune
system of its hosts.

Consider, for example, Toxoplasma. Although its final hosts i.e., the
organisms that house the parasite in its final developmental stage are cats, it
uses both cat prey and humans as pit stops along the way.
Cats are quite picky, preferring to eat only the freshest of dead mice, and since
cats are the parasites final destination, they have to keep their hosts alive long
enough for cats to kill and eat them.

To complicate matters further, Toxoplasma doesnt have the power to determine

which intermediate host i.e., the organism that houses the parasite before
it develops into its final shape in another host will swallow its eggs.
It might be a cat that eats a mouse thats hosting parasites; or it could be a
human who, likely accidentally, has ingested small amounts of cat feces that
contain parasite eggs.
Either way, Toxoplasma is programmed to not kill mice, and thus wont
kill any hosts in order to keep them attractive prey for cats.
Consequently, Toxoplasma wants the intermediate hosts immune systems to
function. However, to the hosts body, they are invaders and should thus be
eliminated by the hosts immune system.

Although it seems paradoxical, Toxoplasma releases a molecule within its hosts

that actually triggers the production of immune system T-cells. In doing so, the
parasites help keep the hosts immune system aggressive against germs and
other invaders, but this also poses a danger to Toxoplasma.

In order to survive, Toxoplasma will hide itself inside of its hosts cysts and thus
out of harms way.
Parasites can use genetically
engineered viruses as weapons.
If youve ever had a cold, then youve lived through a viral invasion that
overcame your bodys natural defenses. Sometimes, if a virus is resilient enough,
it can be a truly terrifying experience. Indeed, some viruses, such as smallpox,
are so deadly that their application in biological weapons has frightened us for
decades.

But humans arent the only ones who have considered turning to nature to find
ammunition. Parasites do, too.

Perhaps the best example for a parasites use of biological weapons can be found
in the mosquito-sized wasp called Cotesia congregata, which uses the
tobacco hornworm a bug that resembles a fat green caterpillar with black
boots on its feet as a suitable place to raise its offspring.
When its time to lay her eggs, the mother wasp finds a nice, fat hornworm and
injects a soupy mix into its body. This soup, among other things, contains both
her eggs as well as viruses, which are produced from the genetic material of the
female wasp.

Without these viruses, the eggs would be destroyed by the hornworms natural
immune defenses. However, thanks to their mothers skills in biological warfare,
the viruses within the soup destroy the immune system of the host, thus
allowing her eggs to grow within the hornworms body in relative peace.

The hornworm, however, is not left entirely defenseless. After a while, its body
develops antibodies against the viruses and thus recovers after a few days from
the infection. Unfortunately for the hornworm, the wasp larvae have grown
large enough by that time to defend themselves against the hornworms immune
system.

Eventually, unable to fight the growing larvae within its body, the hornworm
stops eating and dies.

Some parasites can take complete

control over their hosts.
If youre a science fiction fan, then youve definitely seen some film or another
where a mysterious force, perhaps a virus or an alien being, takes control of the
mind of an unsuspecting human, which it uses to its own foul end.

But this isnt just the stuff of science fiction: parasites, too, can actively
influence their hosts behavior for the sake of their own parasitic interests.

Remember the parasitic wasp from the previous blink? It not only infects
hornworms with viruses that neutralize its immune system but also takes
control over its behavior and metabolism.

As wasp larvae develop within the hornworm, the hornworm grows up to twice
its normal size, and this has everything to do with how the larvae influence their
host.

When a hornworm eats something, like a leaf, the wasp larvae living inside it
change how the hornworm digests that leaf. Usually, the hornworm would
convert the leaf primarily into a storable form of energy, like fat. But when it
hosts wasps, it converts the leaf into sugar instead, as its a quicker source of
energy that the parasitic wasps can use for immediate growth.

Moreover, these wasps also change their hosts physiology. Male hornworms are
born with large testes. But once infected by a parasitic wasp, the testes will
shrink and eventually disappear! Why? Because the hornworms sex organs
dont help the wasps eggs to develop, and at least from the parasites
perspective that energy could be used more efficiently.

While it might seem horrifying, castration is a common practice in the parasite

world. In fact, many species of parasites developed such strategies independent
of one another. For example, sacculina castrate crabs and flukes castrate the
snails they invade.

Once taken over by parasites, hosts lose all control of how their energy is used,
becoming little more than zombies serving their parasitic masters.

These highly complex and slightly scary creatures sometimes have a huge
influence on their hosts. As youll see in the following blinks, their influence
even extends far beyond that.
Entire ecosystems are influenced by
the behavior of parasites.
When most people think of an ecosystem, they imagine a natural community of
predator and prey creating a harmonious circle of life. They dont often think of
parasites. And yet, the role of the parasite in its environment cannot be denied:
they can even shape entire ecosystems!

Take the parasite Euhaplorchis californiensis, for example.

Euhaplorchis eggs are released in bird droppings, which are then consumed by
horn snails. These eggs then hatch inside the snails, where they grow into flukes
and castrate the snail.
Afterwards, they multiply and eventually transform into missile-tailed cercariae.
Then, the cercariae swim out of the snail and into the California killifish.

Once inside, they work their way towards its brain, forming a thin layer on top
of it where they patiently wait for a shorebird to come and eat the killifish.

The shorebird, then, becomes their final host.

With all these different interspecies interactions, the Euhaplorchis becomes a

major player within its salt marsh ecosystem, as ecologist Kevin Lafferty
discovered.

For starters, the castrated and infertile snails arent killed by the flukes. In fact,
they continue to live and eat algae in order to feed the parasitic flukes within
them, and as such become competition for the uninfected snails in their
ecosystem.

Lafferty determined that without the fluke parasite, the snails would double in
population. The increased population would mean less algae, and snail
predators, like crabs, would thrive.

Furthermore, the shorebird population also seems to depend on the parasites in

order to catch their favorite prey the killifish.

By pumping out powerful signals, the parasites cause the killifish behave in
strange ways that make it easier for the birds to catch them. In fact, experiments
have shown that the birds were thirty times more likely to attack a killifish
infested with parasites, which cause the fish to flail or become paralyzed.
Just imagine how difficult it would be to survive if it were thirty times harder to
find a meal!

Parasites may have pushed the course

of evolution.
While its undeniably impressive that parasites are able to have an impact on
entire ecosystems, that pales in comparison to the ways in which theyve shaped
our entire evolutionary development.

It appears that parasites attacks on their hosts led to the evolution of the very
first immune systems. However, whenever a host develops a new protection
against parasites, parasites evolve methods to evade it.

We can see an example of this in a study conducted by A. R. Kraaijeveld

involving two kinds of fruit flies and the parasitic wasps that affect them.

Both kinds of fruit flies developed immune system responses to the wasps.
However, wasps that attacked one kind of fruit fly were able to respond to its
new defenses because their ancestors had experience with the changes in the
flys defense system.

However, the new defenses developed by the other kind of fly were too
unfamiliar to the wasps, which were thus unable to find a way to circumvent
them.

Under these conditions, Kraaijeveld proved that, over time, hosts develop
heritable strategies against the parasites that prey upon them.

Although the claim that parasites caused the development of immune systems
is just a hypothesis, Kraaijevelds experiment provides a foundation to explain
how our immune system came to be: hosts and parasites evolved alongside one
another, each trying to develop new ways to thwart the other.
Sometimes, however, this kind of evolution doesnt actually lead anywhere.
Although their strategies change, the relationship between parasite and host
remains the same: either attack or evade.
Biologists call this sort of evolution The Red Queen hypothesis, named
after Lewis Carrolls Through the Looking Glass. In the book, the Red
Queen takes Alice on a long run that leads to nowhere, telling her: Now, here,
you see, it takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place.

Parasites triggered the development of

sex.
Although the theory of evolution can account for quite a bit of the natural world,
it has a hard time accounting for sex, i.e., reproduction that depends on
copulation between two different variations within the species. Bacteria and
plants, for example, dont have sex, but mammals do. So why on Earth did
species evolve to reproduce through sex and not stick to good, old fashioned
cloning?
As it turns out, parasites might hold the answer to that question.

In the early 1980s, William Hamilton developed the theory that parasites were
responsible for the existence of sex, believing that hosts found that sex was a
better survival strategy than cloning when it came to fighting parasites.

Cloning makes a parasites life quite easy: all it has to do is

develop one strategy to overcome its hosts defenses, and its set for
generations to come.
Unlike cloning, however, sexual reproduction shuffles the genetic material of
the parents, half from father and half from mother. The more variance in
genetic material, the harder it is for a parasite to find the right plan of attack to
pass it on to the next generation.

The question of sex intrigued another scientist named Curtis Lively, who was
able to prove Hamiltons theory.

In order to study the circumstances that caused the evolution of sex, Lively
needed to find a species that reproduced both with and without sex.

That species ended up being a snail in New Zealand

called Potamopyrgus antipodarum. The majority of its population
are identical clones with no distinct sexes, though a fraction of them are divided
into male and female snails that reproduce via sex.
Lively discovered that the snails that reproduced sexually lived in habitats with
more parasites than the asexual ones. In other words, the more parasites, the
higher the evolutionary pressure for sex since the shuffling of genes acts as a
defense mechanism.

And so, it seems that parasites deserve quite a bit of our thanks: for building our
immune systems, balancing our ecosystems, and fostering the need for sexual
intercourse.

Final summary
The key message in this book:

Parasites arent the lowly creatures theyre often made out t

o be. While theymight be disgusting in our eyes, their amazi
ng adaptability has led to some ofthe most important evoluti
onary advancements in the animal kingdom, fromthe devel
opment of immune systems to sexual reproduction.
Actionable advice:

Good hygiene is key to staying parasite-free.

Parasites are everywhere. In fact, you probably have some living in you even as
you read this. However, that doesnt mean you should abandon your attempts to
keep yourself as parasite-free as possible. The best way to protect yourself from
parasites is through good hygiene practices, so wash yourself often and stay
away from the pig pen!

Suggested further reading: Spillover by David Quammen

Spillover takes a look at where the worlds most deadly diseases come from,
explaining how humanity is at risk from viruses and bacteria hiding in animal
populations. It also shows that the closer we get to the natural habitats of wild
animals, the greater our risk of coming face to face with deadly foes: pathogens.