NEXT UP: Australian Feral Camel (1-seed) vs Face Mite (16-seed, image from http://acne.org )! #2020MMM

During British colonization (in 1840) camels were transported from Pakistan to Australia because of their strength & arid-adaptations. Camels were used for exploring the central desert & for railway, road, & telegraph initiatives. (Burrows 2018) #2020MMM

With the completion of the transcontinental rail lines & motorcars (& racist White Australian policies that excluded camel handlers/cameleers), ~20,000 camels were untethered & sent to make their way in the Outback in the 1920s (Burrows 2018) #2020MMM

By 2008, following rapid growth seemingly unconstrained by predation, disease, nutrition, or physiology, over one million feral camels ranged the arid & semi-arid deserts- threatening vegetation, fouling water sources, & destroying remote infrastructure during droughts. #2020MMM

Demodex folliculorum is an face mite that burrows down into human hair follicles to consume our oily skin excretions #2020MMM https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2015/12/we-know-almost-nothing-about-the-animals-we-spend-most-time-with-face-mites/420129/

As the only "Human Permanent Ectoparasites," Demodex spp are exceptional arachnids, & particularly capture the concept of anthropophilic parasitism #WeLoveYou #2020MMM

"Every human being carries a colony of 1000 to 2000 Demodex mites" but "in most cases of Demodex infestation it is asymptomatic." (Litwin et al. 2017) https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5522688/#B13
#AlwaysWithYou #2020MMM
[gif is Professor Quirrell revealing his head parasite]

Our faces (& scalps) are the landscape of these mites as they meet, mate, & lay eggs in our hair follicles. #SweetDreams (image from https://eyelovecares.org/demodex-mites/ ) #2020MMM

Tonight's Battle takes place on a remote cattle station in the Northern Territory, of Australia. Americans would call a cattle station 'a ranch.' #WideOpenSpaces #2020MMM

A team of camel jockeys on ATVs & motorbikes are chasing down feral camels to find a a suitable mount for the camel races! https://www.abc.net.au/local/photos/2012/01/23/3413341.htm #2020MMM

A large, strong male camel with sassy attitude & snappy response is spotted by the would-be jockey, who signals the team to close in, as she takes the lead toward him #2020MMM

Our particular #2020MMM Demodex folliculorum lives face down, booty up in a follicle of this would be camel jockey's eyelash. #Timber

Drawing even with the tiring camel, the jockey's goggles' strap snaps, just as the camel SPITS IN HER FACE! #2020MMM

Swiping the spit away, a tiny splinter of vegetative bark in the camel's cud slashes her eyelid, impaling Demodex!!! #2020MMM

The camel jockey suspends the muster to irrigate her eye with a bottle of water. #PoursOneOutForTheHomieDemodex #2020MMM

AUSTRALIAN FERAL CAMEL DEFEATS FACE MITE!!!! #2020MMM