“Can’t swim like a fish even if you wish!
Can’t fly like a bird, the wish was in vain!
Can’t hunt with arms alone but even then,
The homo sapien is the top of the chain!”
Do you know the an odd difference between a carnivore and a Primate?
The answer is as small as a fly! read on!
In his best selling book called The Naked Ape: A Zoologist’s Study of the Human Animal by English zoologist and ethologist Desmond Morris that looks at humans as a species. The author makes so many claims without sounding very serious but the logic is strong!
The book is actually a grand daddy of sorts of the very famous Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari! The classic has sold over 20 million copies and is still considered a great book! Among the many things he discusses in the book, the central point of course is about that the one species of the ape which is Naked! The human! An average human may have some hair but he or she is more or less hairless and having no external coating! The explanations given by the author are logical sometimes and funny other times!
Among the many difference he says about the Naked Ape, he states how they never get fleas but at least here the Naked Ape is like other ! And that was primarily due to two things apparently!
Now we do get the occasional flea bite which form rare diagnosis but those are accidental fleas!
The basic point, is that carnivores have fleas but primates do not.
So Monkeys and apes are plagued by lice and certain other external parasites but, contrary to popular opinion, they are completely flealess, hope you read that right! It says Flealess and not FEARless!!
To understand this, it is necessary to examine the life-cycle of the flea.
This insect lays its eggs, not on the body of its host, but amongst the detritus (waste or debris of any kind) of its victim’s sleeping quarters!
The eggs take three days to hatch into small, crawling maggots.
These larvae do not feed on blood, but on the waste matter that has accumulated in the dirt of the den or lair!
After a couple of weeks they spin a cocoon and pupate and remain in this dormant condition for approximately two more weeks before emerging as adults, ready to hop on to a suitable host body! This means that they like some specific people of some specific species who take so much time to get ready!
So for at least the first month of its life a flea is cut off from its host species!
It is clear from this why a nomadic mammal, such as a monkey or ape, is not troubled by fleas! Even if a few stray fleas do happen on to one and mate successfully, their eggs will be left behind as the primate group moves on, and when the pupae hatch there will be no host ‘at home’ to continue the relationship. Fleas are therefore parasites only of animals with a fixed home base, such as the typical carnivores!
Another point mentioned in a nature journal is that the Naked Ape has very fine hair wherever he or she has hair! These are not good breeding grounds for the flea! So one of the advantages of being a nomad in the early life and being hairless now means that the Fleas do not choose you! Being Hairless or Bare or Naked is the right choice for this ape! The right choice reminds me of the slogan, Yehi hai right choice, Baby! Made famous by birthday celebrity Luís Remo de Maria Bernardo Fernandes known professionally as Remo Fernandes!
Now that does not mean you cannot get lice! So be nice!
Shubh ratri!
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