MADRID, June 30 (EUROPA PRESS) –

Researchers at the University of Bristol (UK) have found that fleas can be attracted to the static electricity that their hosts naturally accumulate through an air space several times larger than themselves.

This would likely greatly increase their efficiency at finding hosts to parasitize on, as fleas are not capable of jumping and thus this is the only mechanism by which they can make contact with hosts that are out of reach of their tiny claws.

The findings are published in the journal ‘Current Biology’ the first known example of the involvement of static electricity in the attachment of one animal to another.

Fleas carry many nasty diseases, including Lyme disease, which makes life miserable for many people and animals, and can even kill them. There are therefore enormous social and economic benefits in reducing the ability of ticks to attach to humans and the animals on which humans depend.

Lead author Sam England, from Bristol’s School of Biological Sciences, explained: “We know that many animals, including humans, can build up quite a significant electrostatic charge.”

“We see it when we receive a static charge after bouncing on a trampoline or when we rub our hair with a balloon, for example. –Keep going–. But this electrostatic charge also occurs in animals in nature when they rub against objects in their environment such as grass, sand or other animals.”

He states that “these charges are very high and can be hundreds, if not thousands, of volts, more than what is produced in a household outlet! And more importantly, static charges exert a force on other static charges.” , either attractive or repulsive , depending on whether they are positive or negative.”

“We wondered what the static charge accumulated by mammals, birds and reptiles is natural high enough that parasitic fleas can take to the air by electrostatic attraction to these animals, thereby increasing their efficiency in finding hosts to feed on“, Adds.

The team initially tested the idea by holding rabbit fur and other statically charged materials up to fleas and seeing if they were attracted to them.

They observed that this charged surface dragged the tick through the air through a gap of a few millimeters or centimeters (the equivalent of a human hopping a few flights of stairs), so they investigated further.

“First,” Sam continued, “we used past measurements of the typical load carried by an animal mathematically predicts the strength of the electric field generated between a charged animal and grass where ticks like to perch and wait for a host to pass“.

“Next, we placed the ticks under the electrodes, with an air gap between them, and increased the charge on the electrodes until the ticks were attracted to them. Thus, we were able to determine the minimum strength of the electric field that attracted the ticks — He continued, “This minimal electric field is in the order of magnitude predicted by mathematical calculations of the electric fields between charged animals and grass, so it is likely that ticks in the wild are attracted to their hosts by static electricity.” “.

These results have several potential implications and applications. First, the phenomenon likely applies to many other species of parasites that wish to contact and attach to their hosts, such as mites, fleas or ticks, so it could be a universal mechanism for animals to come into contact with and latch on to one another. .

Beyond purely scientific implications, this discovery opens the door for the development of new technologies to minimize flea bites on humans, pets, and livestock, such as the development of antistatic sprays.

“We have now found that ticks can be lifted through air spaces several times larger than themselves by the static electricity that naturally accumulates in other animals,” Sam concluded. This makes it easier for them to find and attach themselves to animals they wish to hold and eat.. Until now, we didn’t know that animals could benefit from static electricity in this way, and it really opens up the imagination as to how many invisible forces like this can help animals and plants live their lives.”

The team now plans to investigate whether the fleas are able to sense electrostatic charges approaching their potential hosts.