05 January 2021

"Leeches make wonderful pets"


When I was a child, our family vacationed in northern Minnesota at Leech Lake.  Not surprisingly, leeches were a part of normal daily life - but they were nothing like these Asian buffalo leeches.
"They're amazing, curious creatures that grow like crazy and make wonderful pets," leech keeper Ariane Khomjani told ScienceAlert.  He explained how individual leeches have their own unique personalities, with some being more adventurous and others more shy.
More information at the link, via Neatorama.

4 comments:

  1. They are interesting creatures and seem to have more, ahem, resolution and independence than Wordsworth ever imagined.

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    1. https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45545/resolution-and-independence

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  2. Yeah, nah. Just like having tigers for pets, that's not a good idea.
    When I was a boy, growing up a couple of hours west of Brisbane, the daily bike ride to school, through a couple of fords, would have me waiting in line at the school gate for the teacher to use his cigarette to burn the leeches off my legs.
    Reckon having leeches as pets, especially such big ones, would leave you an anaemic.

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    1. If they're not biting their keeper, then either (A) they are not pure instinctual automata, as one would expect them to be from their position on the Tree of Life; or (B) they're kept fed to satiety, but on what?

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