What do animal ticks feed on? - briefly
Animal ticks ingest the blood of vertebrate hosts, including mammals, birds, reptiles, and amphibians. They pierce the host’s skin with their mouthparts to draw blood during all active life stages.
What do animal ticks feed on? - in detail
Ticks are obligate hematophagous arthropods that obtain nutrients exclusively from the blood of vertebrate hosts. The feeding process occurs in three developmental stages—larva, nymph, and adult—each requiring a separate blood meal. During attachment, the tick inserts its hypostome into the host’s skin, secretes anticoagulant saliva, and ingests plasma, red blood cells, and leukocytes. The ingested blood is concentrated by excreting excess water and ions, allowing the tick to store large protein reserves for molting and reproduction.
Typical host categories include:
- Mammals: cattle, sheep, goats, horses, pigs, dogs, cats, rodents, deer, and humans.
- Birds: passerines, waterfowl, and raptors, especially for species that prefer avian hosts during the larval or nymphal stage.
- Reptiles and amphibians: turtles, lizards, snakes, and salamanders, primarily targeted by soft‑tick genera such as Ornithodoros.
- Multiple‑host species: hard ticks (family Ixodidae) often switch hosts between stages; soft ticks (family Argasidae) may feed repeatedly on the same host over short intervals.
Feeding strategies vary among species:
- One‑host ticks (e.g., Rhipicephalus (Boophilus) microplus) remain on a single animal throughout all stages, taking successive blood meals without detaching.
- Two‑host ticks (e.g., Amblyomma americanum) attach as larvae, molt to nymphs while still attached, then drop to the environment before seeking a second host as adults.
- Three‑host ticks (e.g., Ixodes scapularis) detach after each stage, locate a new host for the next meal, and complete their life cycle after the adult feeding.
The blood meal provides essential nutrients: proteins for egg production, lipids for energy storage, and vitamins synthesized by symbiotic bacteria within the tick’s gut. The duration of feeding ranges from a few minutes in soft ticks to several days in hard ticks, reflecting differences in saliva composition and host immune evasion mechanisms. This precise reliance on vertebrate blood defines the ecological role of ticks as vectors for a wide array of pathogens.