Blood-Sucking Escape Artists
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- Опубліковано 15 жов 2024
- Of all the animals that we’ve examined in the microcosmos, leeches are probably one of the few that can be used as a verb, to leech off someone-to take and take from them, like a worm consuming someone’s blood.
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I always thought leeches were water-bound, like fish. The fact they can *escape* and *jump* will be keeping me up for weeks.
There are plenty of very terrestrial leeches. They can be like ticks of the rainforest. Tiny leeches climb plants to look for passing animals.
@@GoingtoHecq as someone who lives in a rainforest region I DON'T LIKE THAT FACT PUT IT BACK WHERE IT CAME FROM!
Trust me never go on Mountain walk in Japan or Australian Northern Territory, they are everywhere in the forests
@@BatteredWalrusnot sure those can compare to tropical countries like South east Asia 😂
For what it's worth most leeches, especially land leeches, do not drink blood, but eat invertebrates!
This has to be one of the largest creatures covered on this channel.
As someone from the Philippines, leeches were a pretty common part of my childhood adventures (usually fishing for fun) in ricefields and irrigation ditches. They're quite mesmerizing when they swim, especially since we had a native species that was green with bright orange running stripes. It's like watching those ribbon twirlers in gymnastics.
You never even really feel them when they latch on to feed. You only realize they're there because you **shudder** accidentally touch them. Land leeches are even more ninja. They're usually quite tiny and lie in wait on leaves for passers-by to accidentally brush past them. Most people only realize they've been **ahem** leeched off when they suddenly realize they're bleeding for no reason. By that time, the leech is long gone.
Nonetheless, as far as parasites go, they're quite harmless. It's extremely rare for them to transmit diseases. Aside from the ick factor and the alarming bleeding, they're far more preferable to mosquitoes or ticks.
I am horrified, but yes, that sounds much better than ticks. I haaaaate ticks.
Growing up in a rural part of the Netherlands, I have lost count of how many times I found leeches on my skin after taking an (accidental) dip into some surface waters. We just had the small, black type, with a lighter belly. They'd usually let go after a little pinch, and we never gave it a second thought.
Absolutely agreed on mosquitoes and ticks being immeasurably worse. Leeches are also incredibly useful in medicine to stimulate bloodflow in damaged tissue, which prevents necrosis. I'll splat ticks and mosquitoes any chance I get, but I bear no ill thoughts towards our little leech buddies :)
There’s a 50/50 chance I’d burn myself alive if I found a leech on me. Idc how irrational that sounds.
The first time I saw a leech, my family and me were on a road trip through the mountains when we made a pitstop. Me and my brother saw a nearby pond and went to look what was in there. While looking at the tadpoles we saw some kind of worm like thing twirl through the water. At first my brother and I thought it was an eel, then both of us had the same thought then ran back to the car screaming"LEECH!"
One current use for medical leeches is with reattached fingers or toes. The biggest cause of attachment failure is clotting in the capillaries. The leeches use is two-fold. They pull blood to the tips of the fingers and their natural anticoagulant keep the vessels open while they heal.
Do they just put it on the stub? 😨
@@Liliphant_ if needed to maintain blood flow while prepping for reattachment, yes, but mostly after surgery they are attached to the finger tips to keep the blood flowing to the part they attached to keep it from clotting. The biggest problem after reattaching the fingers is clots in the vessels and capillaries in the part reattached. They loose blood supply and die, having to be removed. The leeches can prevent that from happening.
Just made a comment regarding this! A plastic surgeon used them on a reattached finger.
@@dreyhawk thats awesome
I am terrified that they didn’t explain how the leeches escaped James’ container.
It was B.S. and they did not tell us it was.
And also HOW did the french transport 50 million of them without them escaping on the journey??
my guess would be that they use their suckers to stick to insides of the lid and the container. Some bodily contraction in the right direction will rotate the lid.
I love leeches. They're fascinating! I have a pet ribbon leech, and in the past I've had American medical leeches as pets. They're really cool to watch as they hunt and explore. And as for drinking my blood, well, they don't bother--they have plenty to eat in my aquarium. The ribbon leech eats my snails!
I remember learning about leech ganglia (very very briefly) in school. Never seen one alive before - and uh, kind of don't want to see one again. But WOW did James go through it for this video! Many thanks to him for persistence and a strong constitution.
Also: that initial anecdote makes for PERFECT ghost-story type narration. "The lid was on the floor!" Y I K E S
This unlocked a core memory of being a child wandering a creek with my friends, and we come upon this tiny little pond. I, being a carefree child, decided to go for a swim. I had to walk in a ways before it was deep enough and my feet sand into silty sediment that was almost like a quicksand and nearly took my flip flops. When I got back out, my one of my friends exclaims, "omg your feet!" and I looked down to see 25-30 black leeches on my feet- and they were everywhere. Top of my foot, the sides, my toes, between my toes, my ankles, my heel... literally everywhere. I screamed and my soul just about left my body, but luckily my other friend wasn't afraid and picked them all off one by one while I sobbed and looked up at the sky.
Thanks, I hate it!
I recently started a new tabletop game and my character is a crazy occult physician who uses leeches as one of his primary medical tools. It's loads of fun. 😂
I always describe him as leaving his clinic with the smells of his many horrifying ingredients still clinging to his body.
It’s funny how leech-positive these comments are on what’s supposed to be a creepy halloween-type video. And I’m gonna add to it! I found leeches super creepy until I realized how chill they are: their feeding is painless and not super often, they politely leave when they’re done, they almost never spread disease, and they’re incredibly medically useful. Our history continues to be bound up with the leech. Keep on keepin’ on, little guys.
Leeches are more interesting and cuter than they get credit for. Many do not drink blood, at all, let alone human blood. They “walk” by looping like an inchworm, and they’re mostly good swimmers. They can make themselves long and skinny or short and stout. Some have beautiful patterns. The medicinal leeches can help improve blood flow to reattached fingers and injured ears to prevent cauliflower ear.
Leeches are cool. At least nicer than ticks and bedbugs.
im so thankful for this video, leeches are one of my fave animals ever. to the point of searching for hours and hours online to find one of the giant microbe plushies of a medical leech back when they weren't in production for a few years (they have since starting making them again!!!)
I had a run in with leeches at guide camp in a lake in northern Manitoba when a child.
I - as a camping family - knew that heavy layers of deet and socks were ideal equipment for going canoeing in case you had to wade up a shore. My fashion choices were much mirth for my friends until….
…My school friends were not as “lucky” as I and I had the unfortunate job of pulling the little things off their feet.
But I did go into blood science. So thanks little guys. ;)
My dad and neighbor always used cigarettes or lighters to get them off, they really don't like being burnt.
@@thomasrogers8239Maybe they should have checked their covers before engaging in espionage? 🤔
@@thomasrogers8239This can sometimes cause them to vomit- into your wound. You really don't want that to happen.
That’s what I hear about ticks too
Aquatic medicinal leeches are an awesome pet. I have approx twenty six ATM and waiting on this breeding season's cocoon. They are an sa adorable and unique pet as any other. Beautiful creatures ♥️🩸
Nope.
Nope...
I need to check out of this one.
I saw some un ID'd wild ones being sold at a reptile expo. So cool to watch them move. The guys said they sold a ton of them, more than anything else at their booth!
I want some so bad but have had the worst time finding them.
Hello fellow leech gang member!
Will a hospital let you keep your leech if it gets used on you? It’s technically medical waste, but it’s your medical waste, and they let people keep kidney stones and extracted teeth.
Oh, how I do enjoy Hank's soothing voice.
The footage of the blood moving through the leech was just beautiful. Im quite fond of leeches, they live in a pond near my house. They look so elegant when they swim through the water. Through watching that population I found that they don't just eat blood. I once saw one swallowing a whole slug. It was disgusting, but fascinating. I think that those animals that can inspire both wonder and disgust are some of the best.
Leeches are also sometimes used on transplanted/reatached bodyparts to get the bloodflow working
A danger after transplant is often venous congestion since the movement of venous blood tends to be aided by the action of the muscles surrounding the vessels (hence why your legs often swell if sitting still for a long time). The leeches help to drain this excess build up of blood from the area plus they also have an anticoagulant effect reducing the chances of a clot forming.
The craziest thing I’ve heard in all these videos, is James finding the leeches. I assumed they would just be dried up dead in a rug somewhere, never to be noticed again. For those leeches to tardigrade over to the laundry room together and ultimately be found, is bananas.
I'll borrow that tardigrade, bravo
Ill prolly burn the house
Parasitic worms are common in this part of the world. Eons ago (uni days), these leeches were my enemy as we hike for mountain cleanups. Post retirement, we were looking for a suitable farm and these parasites always find its way through my socks. Farmers tell us that it frequents mud with lots of animal feces. Ofc I did not correct this.
However, while I was in my mid 20s to 40s travelling swampy farmlands, my worst fear then were schistosomes. I have met farmers and fishermen who were infected by these parasites. I barely could eat and drink in those areas. For protection, I was clad with water resistant clothing. When you study parasitology for a semester, the fear lingers. 😂
I looked up what schistosomia is, I now share your fear lol
Thanks, I've just been down the Wikipedia schistosome rabbit hole. Fascinating and creepy.
You should also look up Filariodidea which causes elephantiasis. That is also 2nd to my fears speacially when I frequent banana plantations. Cheers! 😂
I used to have pet leeches, they are really interesting and also beautiful. And yes, I let them feed on me as they were captive bred like medical leeches and safe. Mine were Hirudo verbana which is closely related to h medicinalis
Tardigrade - To reduce something in such a way that makes it imune to any further change until the Tardigration is reversed.
"I found their insult very tardigrading. It hurt but then nothing they said after that seemed to matter."
Awesome use of a metaphorical verb🎉
The music for this one sounds like a Delia Derbyshire composition. Feels like I'm watching a BBC science program in the 1970's
How were the leeches able to remove the lid? Was it a glass jar with a screw-on lid, or something with a lid that just pressed on? Because I can understand them being able to push the second kind of lid off, but unscrewing a lid sounds incredible.
They are strong and flexible and have suction...but I too wish they said more or knew more about how they got out.
Octopus can do screw jars. But I assume this was just a Rubbermaid type press on lid. Mason jars are ideal to keep leeches in and IN.
I've seen two bees open a bottle of Coke with a screw-on lid. Little goobers are stronger than I realized, but I suppose they were properly motivated lol. 🐝🪱
I feel like the type of container was basically a Tupperware. Might not have been stated outright but that sounds like what was being used, judging by how James was told it wouldn't be enough to keep them contained, and I can easily see both someone assuming having the lid firmly pressed on would be enough, while also being weak enough for the leeches to escape with a little effort.
Keeping pet snakes has taught me that no matter how thin or small an animal is, never underestimate their strength or capacity for escape. It can be easy to forget that even thin little garden snakes are basically a strip of pure muscle.
leeches leeching off humans leeching off leeches leeching off humans ...
recursive leechception
"Imagine transporting hundreds of thousands of leeches..." Resident Evil Zero springs to mind.
Okay but I’m going to need him to put the leeches back in the jar but film their escape this time.
add "actor" to the leeches' list of accomplishments at the end now. I wish I was that successful
I'm surprised leeches are considered micro animals and not macro. Since you can see them with the bare eye. Also very impressed they can open jars! Thats so cool!
Great episode and your reference to Zaphod Beeblebrox was appreciated 😊
Hank would do a really wonderful bedtime reading of A Series of Unfortunate Events. Lots of passages about leeches. Still somehow soothing.
Excellent narration, script and photography
I just realized how much I love the ambient background music in these videos. This one's spooky.
I'd love to see a video of leeches escaping the sealed container where James put them
I used to work as a charge nurse in a post surgical unit. One of the plastic surgeons used leeches on a patient who had amputated her finger while using a bandsaw or something. he reattached the finger and used the leeches to keep the blood flowing. It is the first time that I’ve ever been done in our hospital so all the nurses had to be taught how to use the leeches without killing them. There was a bucket full of them in the patient‘s room. I didn’t personally get to play with the leeches, but I watched as a couple other nurses did since the things had to be changed a couple times a day. I assume everything went well since the patient had been discharged by the time I came back to work a few days later. That was the only time, while I was there, that leaches were used.
Millions of leeches, leeches for free
Millions of leeches, leeches for me
When we say someone "tardigraded", we're saying thay they survived uninhabitable conditions for periods konger than they should have. Remember that movie of the guy who got stuck under a rock and had to cut his limbs off to escape? That guy tardigraded the hell out of that situation.
You're back, hope your doing better mate. Good luck!
My uncle had leech therapy when four of his fingers were cut off by machine I got to see it in person the therapy it had it did help bring the blood supply back to the end of the hand even though they weren't able to reattach the fingers.
I'm stunned he didn't mention this in the video, nevertheless very interesting
@@GrandDukeMushroom He did mention use of leeches to deal with hematoma.
Oh, thanks@@agnelomascarenhas8990
AbsoIuteIy, leeches are used in medicine. Mostly to help drain excess blood/fluid and improve circulation to an area they're trying to reattach skin, fingers, etc or just improve circulation. You can't always successfully reattach something if there are no/limited blood vessels in the area.
An example comes to mind of a man who had his scalp torn off by a bear and there aren't many big vessels to restore blood flow to that area, so they used leeches. Another is in Benjamin Hall's book, Saved. He's a war reporter who was a victim of a bombing attack in Ukraine and he had severe injuries and burns. His one hand was very injured and parts of the flesh/muscle was just blown away. They had to do skin grafting and used medical leeches to improve blood flow. He still has his hand so it was successful.
It's a good read if you like that kind of thing. His rescue was nothing short of miraculous, getting him out of Ukraine quickly and safely was an amazing story.
I had a rural and outdoor sort of upbringing, and was bitten or stung by pretty much everything small that bites or stings. Leeches are probably the least unpleasant. They come off easily with a scrape from a fingernail, the bite doesn't itch or hurt, and the wound is minuscule and is healed as soon as the bleeding stops.
We have leeches here too (India). I myself was a victim of leeches. I didn't realize at first that a little leech was sucking blood on my leg. Later I applied salt for removing the leech from my leg. Our leeches here mainly attack cattle. Leeches lie on the wet ground waiting for their prey.
See? A video can suck, and be fantastic all at once.
🎵🎶Leeches, leeches, leeches, leeches, leeches!
Leeches, leeches, leeches, leeches, leeches!
IIIIII LOOOOVE YOOOOOU!!!🎵🎶
Such an incredible creature and an incredible documentary, pure perfection.
Ok I need to know how leexhes can open a tightly sealed jar from the inside
New fear unlocked
The story with James and the leeches escaping the jar is totally the premise for a horror movie
I got bitten by a leech apparently dropped down from a tree or hiding in a bush after a hike in a Vietnam tropical rainforest. I did not feel anything at all, and only learned about the little parasite sticking to my belly when someone pointed out that I had blood on my shirt. Amazing local anesthetic.
I remember seeing a leech on the floor of my college science classroom. I waited to point it our to not freak out the other students but finding out that's just something they normally do is kinda funny and a little scary 😂
Absolutely fantastic video, as always!
makes me wonder if their anti-coagulant spit could have useful chemicals for anti-clotting drugs in humans.
Indeed it does, notably the peptide hirudin
Loved the narration, as well as the content!
0:38 I took a long ass draw on my J when he asked that. Now I am the leech.
I didn't think leeches could look any creepier. Then I looked at them under the microscope. Spooky Season on this channel has been fascinating! 😁
Now I need a second video explaining the different sections of the leeches. How do those eyespots work and how well? Is there a way to see the leeches jaws working on skin? Lots more.
I’m so happy you guys did a leech video!!! They’re one of my favorite critters, I have one tattooed on my arm and a couple as pets! They’re surprisingly cute 💚
Leech trade isnt dead, tons are used for fishing.
This has to be the most terrifying video I've ever seen on UA-cam, and I watch some creepy stuff! The magnified parts and the life of a leech didn't bother me... but those escape artists! Oh no no no.
You totally euglenaed it with this video. Well done!
Is it leech week? Professor Dave is covering leeches, too!
I used to keep a fish tank of 4 horse leeches when I was a kid. They're great to watch.
I have heard stories of leeches escaping an aquarium through a microfracture in the glass that was invisible for the naked eye.
😨
That sounds like bs to me, they probably just squezed thru the aquarium lid somehow.
They are supposed to be a premium bait for fresh water fishes. I have a number of different designs of leech flies for fly fishing. They are more of a slow or still water bait, but if you can find leeches in stretch of water, bait they are.
I love leeches and flatworms. They're so cool!
What was making the doctors believe that their leeching methods were working on the sick patients? Certainly, draining blood out of a sick person doesn’t make them less sick. But something had to be happening to convince them the patient was improving in some way?
A few guesses:
• Bloodletting is still used _(very_ rarely) to treat patients who have high blood pressure because they overproduce red blood cells, so it might have alleviated symptoms associated with high BP.
• Bloodsucking critters tend to have anticoagulant and analgesic compounds in their saliva. Pain relief, and quasi-blood thinners, maybe?
• Given medieval medical theories (4 humors), a patient would need bloodletting if they were sanguine. Tending sanguine was understood to be the natural state of young men. So, bloodletting may have been a viable means of making "Just a flesh wound!" patients woozy enough to actually stay in bed and rest.
Look up Humoral Theory. it wasn't really based in any good science, just beliefs in bad blood and other superstitious stuff.
A lack of empirical methods of study. It might seem obvious now to have a control group, testing a hypothesis, and large sample sizes, but the scientific method is a modern invention.
The correct answer to your question is the placebo effect.
I thought that the Medicinal Leech had three *tongues*, not three jaws; thank you for the correction and clarification - and for so much more information about the clade. Awesome work from The Master Of Microscopes
One of the leeches has a smiley face like a snow man! I can't help but find it endearing. Not it's fault it has to drink blood to survive.
Honestly it's kinda polite that it does instead of just killing to eat
They hunt you down when in the jungle. My feet are covered in over 40 bite scars even though its been over a year since my last expedition. When in the Philippines one of my local friends told us that the local leaches that were known to go after peoples eyes. We weren't sure if he was trying to scare us (and I've seen thousands of leaches and never heard of one doing so), until two nights later he himself got bitten in the eye for the first time in his life. I have photos of it. He was crying blood for two or three days which was pretty creepy lol.
Thanks, I absolutely both hate and appreciate this video in equal parts. 👍
Still wondering how to store leeches then. Let alone How did all millions of them get transported??
What kind of filters does james use?
I would be happy to know the specific ones.
Your videos are my favourites and I want to try making my own ones
I prefer to keep far away from leeches, of either kind but I do admit this was a fascinating vid!
Journey to the Microcosmos manages shed light on the natural dignity of yet another gross organism. Still waiting for them to make mosquitos larvae likable (I'm not actually waiting for that).
Why is the background music so loud on this video? Speaking as someone with impaired hearing, it’s not welcome. (But thank you for the high quality subtitles. They are greatly appreciated.)
Check out Attack of the Giant Leeches (1959) A B-movie that's actually entertaining for the wrong reasons, naturally, it's a hoot.
I remember seeing that on late night TV! I was young enough to be frightened, but old enough to be fascinated by the hot looking woman they sucked to death.
🤣@@stevenkarnisky411
B.S. on the leeches escaping the jar with a lid on it.
I have school in two hours and I'm supposed to be sleeping, but watching this is good too
Never thought I would see landlords this close up!
lol i heard 3 jaws and my mind immediately went to arbiter
"aaaaaaaaaaawubadugh"
The thumbnail 👌👌👌
Here's the etymology they mentioned in passing:
"Leeches were named for the Old English word laece, meaning “worm,” and derived from Middle Dutch; doctors were also called laece, but derived from the Old Frisian laki, meaning “a physician.”"
I found the visuals of leaches breaching some (outlined) barrier to be confusing. It was never explained.
Wouldn't Tardigrade as a verb mean to hang on while a huge disaster is trying to tear you apart?
Based on this video I can confirm that we are actually the Leaches, leaching off leaches😂😂
Sometimes I just tardigrade into or out of bed if I’m just that tired
Fascinating and creepy!
James please film escaping leeches!
So how do you trade them if they open jars.
Didn't even realise I had a leech the ther day, came home from work sat on my bed for a minute putting my phone on charge. I got up walked out to get a beer, came back and a fat fully fed leech was sitting right next to where I just sat down. Had no idea it was on me and couldn't find where it was feeding from lol. Watched him for a good 10 minutes before I took him outside (to feed to the magpies, sorry mate the cycle must continue 😂)
After recovering from/surviving a life threatening event you could say you "tardigraded it". Theres your verb
I’m going to start someone tardigrading if they have been doing something forever yet not really having an effect on anything or being noticed.
Not so fun fact: sometimes bloodletting is still used to treat a rare blood/bone marrow disease called polycythemia vera. They don't use leeches. It's more like donating blood. In dutch they still call it the word 'aderlaten' and it sounds very medieval.
2:25 what are the squiggley worms at the bottom of the tank?
That thumbnail "Jaws" style 😂
Doctor: "oops"
Patient: "what do u mean oops!"
Doctor: " don't worry, we know where he went. Up yer butt."
I’m imagining the etymology discussion in Ceri’s voice, it feels wrong otherwise.
Love these litte guys
I didn't expect them to have 8 eyes like a spider. Assuming those spots are indeed some kind of primitive eyes.
What are the grass things who were moving in the fish tank???
any fellow leech enthusiasts and keepers reading this make some noise! I’ve been invested in them for 6 years ❤
Generally, it takes a lot to bother me, and I can't remember the last time anything made me feel creeped out, but the thought of leeches free roaming around my home- ugh.
Now I wanna learn about other animal - comchess