Kind: captions
Language: en
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you're watching a Nova science Now video
podcast I'm Melissa
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saletra
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you just invited me into this Pond We're
No More Than 3 ft in from the shore and
I am knee in muuk yes you are I can't I
can barely pull my foot out this is what
we uh this is what we call a wet land
what used to be called a swamp normally
it takes them a little while to realize
we're here they they respond to movement
in the water first mhm and they'll come
swimming from many me away they can feel
the movement especially in an open spot
like this in fact there there's one
coming right now you see them I got him
I got him I got him there we go oh
that's a
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doozy is he big because he's fed or big
because he's just bigger and older this
one's probably big because he's older
and uh it's probably its second summer
here in this Pond and it's trying to
find a place to feed on me and what's it
looking for it's already on you it's
it's looking for a place that it can
taste the right substances salts or
amino acids or whatever comes out of our
out of our skin and the palms of my
hands are fairly rough and and the leech
is not going to be able to get the right
taste there so it like like tender parts
of your tender parts tender parts
between your fingers is a a fairly good
spot or between any two other parts of
your body between your toes ankles are
pretty good the backs of knees uh any
place that's nice and
soft
uh-oh you see him he's got one yeah he's
got one
so do you want to hold on to one of
these guys you want to see what they're
like no I'm sorry you know they they
people think leeches are slimy and and
they're but they're I'll try one they're
really only slimy when when they start
to secrete some
mucus come on he's not going to bite he
started to bite me he did not he's
hanging on that was his back sucker that
his mouth
sucker the back sucker is the big one
the back sucker is the big one that's
the one that sucks the blood no no no no
it's the the the skinny end is the one
that's actually going to do any blood
feeding and and that's the one that's
moving around and actually not hold it's
the one that's looking around right so
this one is just so this one's just just
for attachment purp for attachment
purposes and Locomotion
purposes they can feed up to six to
eight times their unfed body weight in
Blood and then live off of that live off
of that for sometimes up to a year we've
had them in the lab for for a year
without feeding and they're perfectly
fine and then they'll feed again if
they're given the opp opportunity so
this will suck on me and other humans
any other animals well this one's
actually fairly interested in frogs most
of the time we know that it will also
feed on on uh on fishes but it won't
feed on Turtles for example and and for
some reason they don't like catfish but
that's only one particular kind of leech
there are other leeches that will be out
here in this Pond that will feed on on
Turtles specifically or feed on frogs
there're in a family that has a really
profound parental care they actually
hold on to their young as they develop
and then carry their offspring to their
first blood meal when they go get their
next blood meal and that's better than
some dinosaurs
did so Family Values family values in
leeches can I hold him again yeah there
you go looks like it likes it when I pet
him I pet him he's kind of curled up and
he's just staying like that look at that
I think he likes
me
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