5 Animals that will make you squirm

The world is filled with animals, many are beautiful, many are scary and some just have the ability to make you squirm- give you the ick I think is cool way of saying it

Hello, and welcome to the Not-So-Romantic blog by name is Andy and I’ve researched and found a list of just 5 animals which are a little bit gross and will make you squirm- they certainly made me squirm! Enjoy!

In this Not-So-Romantic Blog

Enigma moth

Moths in general are just a little bit gross. And this moth is definitely no exception. The Enigma moth is a newer discovery as it was only discovered in 2015. I think it’s the hairs on their back that makes me squirm the most. But, they won’t make us squirm for long as they only live for 24 hours.

They emerge from their cacoon, reproduce and die all within 24 hours… now that’s living the fast life. Most moths do only live for a shot time, but 24 hours seems a little bit harsh. They don’t even eat in that time as that would waste time I imagine.

These enigmas (see what I did there?) of the animal kingdom were discovered on Kangaroo Island in South Australia.

Mind-control fungus

Just the name “mind-control fungus” makes me squirm. How about you?

The Brazil based fungus attaches itself to a insects- mostly ants- brain and controls them before killing them off. A shiver literally went down my spine writing that!

The spore feeds on the insects body and controls them to climb a high tree, where it dies and the mind-controlling fungus spores get released so it can take over the minds of other insects it can eat the brains out of.

To put your minds at ease, humans are immune- hopefully forever. But what if they evolve? And we have humans being controlled like a far more harmful version of ratatouille?

Ticks

Ticks feed on the blood of mammals which sounds just like a horror film. They sneakily wait on large vegetation in the wild and jump onto animals as they pass. Oh, humans are mammals so they do feed on our blood as well.

I think the part that makes me squirm about ticks the most is the fact that when they jump onto a mammal – and I remind you again this could be a human- they become very difficult to remove as they have a barbed feeding tube that they dig inside the animals skin. I guess that’s why you have to be careful when you remove them.

Not squirming enough yet? Okay…

Ticks can attach themselves to any part of your body… including your eyeball… and female ticks can sometimes grow 150 times bigger when feeding- I feel like you would notice that on your eye if it did grow that big. Oh, and the small fact they can transfer incredible dangerous diseases to you when they bite into you.

There, is that squirmy enough?

Leech

Speaking of sucking blood, let’s introduce the next animals that will make you squirm- the leech.

Leeches were used heavily in early medical practices, if someone was ill they would pop a leech on to get rid of the dirty blood inside them. I think it’s a little known fact but leeches are still used for some medical reasons today. Get it wrong, and they suck out too much blood you’re going to be in trouble!

They just look gross and make me squirm. Do they make you squirm? If they don’t, then here’s an extra dose for you. They also carry diseases and can transfer them to you when they bite you.

If you wanted to know more about the dangers of leeches, check out this Not-So-Romantic Blog about the most dangerous Victorian jobs.

Bed bug

Another animal to make you squirm.. and another animal that feeds on blood and this time, exclusively human blood.

You may have heard the saying “don’t let the bed bugs bite” and you really don’t want to the bed bugs to bite. If they do bite you, you can get horrible skin rashes, allergic reactions and other unpleasant side effects.

Bed bugs crop up everywhere, are hard to get rid of and are incredibly squirm inducing. They’ve been around for 3500 years, can suck up 7 times their body weight amounts of blood, lay 5 eggs a day, and the babies are so small, they can fit through the the small stitching on your mattress. Urgh.

They’re like one of those colour changing mugs as well. When they suck up the blood like a tiny and harder to get rid of vampire, they grow bigger and change colour. When they’re unfed they’re flat and almost look like a CD (ask your favourite grownup what a CD is if you’re on the younger side). If you wanted a final bit of squirm inducing information… they also poop all over your mattress as well… mini tiny poops.

I bet you’re hoping for a silver lining right? Well, there is one. We could all beat a bed bug in a race. They are really slow they can only travel about a metre in distance every a metre. I don’t know how tall you are, but I can move one metre in a single step if I really stretch- and my trousers aren’t too tight.

And there we go, 5 animals that will make you squirm and, in the nicest way possible, I really hope they did make you squirm.

There are definitely plenty more animals (and not all of them are insects) that will make you squirm so be sure to keep checking back on the Not-So-Romantic Blog for a part 2 in the future.

If you’ve enjoyed this blog, which I hope you have, then I have a small list of other blogs which you may also enjoy so be sure to check them out!

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Thanks very much for reading!