What are ticks good for?

You can find our YouTube video about ticks here:

Tick-borne diseases

Of course, it is not without reason that the tick has a bad reputation: the anesthetic it injects into its host before biting can potentially allow pathogens to enter the host's body.

One of the two most well-known tick-borne diseases is tick-borne encephalitis (TBE), caused by a viral pathogen. You can protect yourself against this with a vaccination if you are in a known risk area (maps are available from the Robert Koch Institute, for example) or if you come into frequent contact with ticks.

Unfortunately, there is no preventative vaccination against Lyme disease, an infection caused by bacteria. Here, it is important to pay close attention to symptoms after a bite and, if necessary, to see a doctor immediately, who can prescribe antibiotics. A typical (but not mandatory) symptom of an acute infection is the so-called erythema migrans on the skin, which itches and gradually grows larger. It is bright red along the outer edge, paler toward the center, and has a dark spot in the center. Other classic symptoms include joint pain, general weakness, and, in later stages, nerve problems.

Learn many exciting details about ticks from Volker Brenn, specialist in general medicine and internal medicine, in this podcast with Peter Wohlleben

Avoid tick bites

The good news is that (our native) ticks are very slow, not hunters but rather skulkers. Therefore, it helps a lot to check or wipe off the front of your trouser legs after walking along a game trail or near knee-high vegetation (such as gorse bushes or nettles). Light-colored, long clothing is a good idea.

After every visit to the forest, it's also advisable to check yourself from head to toe. Ticks prefer thin areas of skin, such as the backs of the knees, the groin area, or the head (at the hairline or behind the ears). If, despite all precautions, a tick has bitten your skin, it's important to remove it as quickly as possible. Contrary to popular belief, there's no correct direction. Removing it boldly (without applying pressure to the tick's body) is optimal – whether with a tick card, tweezers, or, if necessary, by hand. Using oil is not recommended – doing so can actually increase the risk of infection.

So what are ticks good for anyway?

And what about the ecological benefits of ticks? On the one hand, they serve as a food source: Their natural predators include birds and various other forest dwellers.

In addition, ticks serve another purpose as parasites: they influence populations and evolution.

By the way: Have you ever wondered, annoyed, why there are so many ticks? It's definitely a home-grown problem: Did you know that the density of wild animals in Germany is extremely high? This is partly due to our type of forestry, which provides deer, for example, with a delicious buffet. A connection to hunting is also likely, and it would be fascinating to see how the population would regulate itself naturally without hunting. There are currently around 15-20 deer per square kilometer in this country - if the population were to stabilize naturally, there would be around 2-3 deer. This means that ticks find a rich supply of hosts and can therefore reproduce rapidly.

Conclusion

Upon closer inspection, ticks are truly fascinating creatures. It's relatively easy to protect yourself against the – undoubtedly real – dangers they pose to humans. So, don't let ticks deter you from exploring nature—at the end of the day, they're just doing their thing. Useful or harmful are ultimately human categories.