Be careful! Static electricity on your body can attract ticks more easily.

Researchers at the University of Bristol in the United Kingdom have discovered that ticks can be attracted to hosts by the natural buildup of electricity, bridging air gaps many times their own size. This could greatly enhance their efficiency in finding hosts, as ticks neither fly nor jump, making it the mechanism by which they can reach hosts that are further or higher up. The findings, published in the June 30 issue of Current Biology, represent the first example of electrostatic adhesion between animals. Many animals, including humans, can accumulate a significant amount of static electric charge when they rub against objects in their environment such as grass, sand, or other animals. This accumulated charge can be in the hundreds of volts, greater than the voltage in a household outlet. The researchers to know if the static electric charges naturally accumulated by mammals, birds, and reptiles were high enough to lift parasitic ticks into the air, thereby improving their in finding hosts. The researchers placed statically charged rabbit fur and other materials near the ticks to see if the ticks were attracted to the materials. They observed that these surfaces easily "pulled" the ticks through the air over millimeters or centimeters, equivalent to a human jumping up several steps. Ticks often lie in wait grass for hosts to pass by. In further studies, the researchers predicted the strength of the electric field generated between a charged animal and the grass, then placed the under an electrode with an air gap between the two. They gradually increased the charge on the electrode until the tick was attracted to it, thereby determining the minimum electric strength needed to attract the tick. The results show that this minimum electric field falls within the predicted range of the electric field between a charged animal and grass, so is likely that ticks in nature are attracted to hosts by static electricity.