![]() Doctors thought that this species was great for treating serious diseases. For the longest time, leeches were used as medical animals.Here are some very interesting facts about the animal: This species has lots of interesting characteristics. When talking about parasitic animals, the first thing most people think of is leeches. Such behavior is much more common for aquatic subspecies, while land leeches usually attach to their hosts by accident. ![]() They will continue doing so until their sucker feels meat. Once they feel disturbance from a potential host, they will start crawling and sucking the ground. By fully extending their bodies, they can better feel the motion around them. Leeches can easily and quickly analyze their surroundings. Lastly, we have leeches without jaws or teeth that feed by swallowing other animals. These subspecies usually attack smaller animals such as snails and worms. Once they do so, they will inject them with enzyme hematin that allows the dissolution of blood clots. Instead, they utilize a specific type of needle to sting their host. Unlike the first category, the second type of leeches doesn’t have jaws. That way, they can suck blood for a long period. In addition, the animal synthesizes unique secretion, which it injects into the host’s body, thus preventing clotting. For example, one group of leeches have jaws with very sharp teeth allowing them to bite their prey. The animal can feed in various ways depending on its species. If we were to generalize, here are all the things they eat: As such, the species doesn’t have to eat all the time. The whole digestion process is very slow, and it can last for months. After eating several times its weight, the animal will detach from its target and go to some dark, covered spot where it will process food. In some cases, they will take food from other leeches that have died during an attack. Still, if food is scarce, they will try to get blood from animals they wouldn’t otherwise attach to.ĭepending on leech subspecies, they can feed on various mammals, fish, humans, birds, etc. They are very selective when choosing targets. But there are also those that eat prey whole. The majority of leeches suck blood, and biologists categorize them as parasitic species. As such, fed leeches will be very bloated. However, when they have the opportunity to eat, they can consume an amount of blood several times their weight. The species is very resilient and can survive for more than a year without any food.Leeches avoid light whenever they can and tend to hide under stones and plants. The animal loves shallow, warm ground with lots of natural protection and obstacles.This can occur after a few days or a few months it depends on leech species. The animal will place fertilized eggs into a cocoon within its reproductive system.So, when mating, they need to find a partner who has the other set of organs active at that moment. Instead, they only activate at certain moments in their lives. Although the animal has both sets of sex organs, they are not active at the same time.Here are some interesting habits that leeches exhibit: The penis will ejaculate the spermatophore into the female organ, which will then be stored in the vagina. When two animals copulate, they do so by connecting one animal’s anterior end with another individual’s posterior end. They have both sets of organs, but male sexual tissue will be formed first. The species reproduces like all other hermaphrodites. Almost all species have a sucker on the front and end of their bodies, but some primitive leeches only have one in the back. Leeches are very flexible due to their potent diagonal muscles that envelop circular and longitudinal muscles and reinforce them. The animal’s body has an epidermis, cuticle, and a layer of connective tissue. The inside of their bodies has strong dermis tissue, which isolates specific organs and prevents them from damaging each other. The species have coelom with four longitudinal channels. In that sense, they are different from most annelid animals. Individuals belonging to this species are very similar to each other.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |