"Lost worlds" right beside us-- Carl Zimmer on leech scientist Mark Siddall.
A sample:
".... scientists need to find leeches with big bacteria-housing organs to dissect. It turns out that some of the biggest are in a species that lives just on the rear end of the hippopotamus. So Dr. Siddall has traveled to South Africa in recent years to wade into crocodile-infested waters to look for them.
" 'Obviously, we didn't wrestle hippos to the ground,' Dr. Siddall said. Instead, he hoped to attract a few leeches that had dropped off the hippos. He failed to find any.
"But fortunately for him, a game warden remembered him when a hippo was shot after raiding backyards. He sent Dr. Siddall a leech from the hippo's hindquarters.
" 'It turned out to harbor a completely unique lineage of bacteria,' Dr. Siddall said."
I find leeches fascinating, but Libby, who has experienced them in bloodsucking hordes in the Nepal Terai, is less enthusiastic...
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