Predators Could Be Answer to “Dimming” the Lyme-light
Rewind to the beginning - and no, it doesn't begin with deer...
Lyme Disease. We think it starts with deer. but that's not the real beginning of the Lyme story. So let's rewind and work our way up. It has to do with…. acorns.
Yes. Acorns.
Acorns are the preferred food of the white-footed mouse - and there is a bumper crop this year. You might be surprised by this, but the white footed mouse really begins this story... they're the original vector. With lots of acorns, and fewer predators (more on that shortly) - there's a boom in the population of white mice — carriers of deer ticks… which spells trouble when it comes to tick-borne illnesses…
The Lyme chain
A tick bites an animal that has Lyme, and thus gets infected; then the tick bites a vector animal like the white-footed mouse, who passes the infected tick to a deer (or dog, human, etc.). As the famous novelist and essayist Susan Orleans put it: deer are "cloven-hoofed disease vectors." Fact: a Northeastern deer can carry over 1,000 of these ticks on its body. But what about predators and Lyme?
The productivity of predators
Recent research suggests that the rise in tick-borne illnesses like Lyme may be connected to a dearth of typical mouse predators. If mice are meals, or at least less likely to amble about - then they are not as effective vectors for disease. All data seems to indicate that predators break the cycle of infection. What kind of predators?
The Guinea fowl: tick munching, polka-doted, feathered forager
Let's start with a tick predator that is getting a lot of attention: the guinea fowl. In their ancestral homeland of Africa, guineas follow the grazing herds and can reputedly eat four thousand ticks per day! placing guinea fowl on lawn patrol takes away a link in a chain that has infected some 128,000 people nationwide since 1982. But does it work? Consensus is that the birds help, but won't solve the problem.
Christie Brinkley: The face of the guinea fowl craze
The guinea hen craze initially took off after model Christie Brinkley ran an experiment on her Hamptons property in 1990. It concluded that the feathery insect-foraging birds eat a lot of Lyme ticks - and can dramatically lower the number of ticks on a property. While not a 100% effective strategy - it can be immensely helpful in the fight against Lyme.
The Fox: Outfoxing Lyme
Because small animals are prey - their abundance, and the spread of Lyme - depends on the abundance of their predators. A recent study comparing areas with higher nujmbers of red foxes - a key predator of rodents - showed considerably lower incidences of Lyme disease. So let's get foxy!
Coyotes not so wily when it comes to Lyme
In some areas, coyotes are taking over some fox habitat - so researchers decided to investigate the imapct of coyotes on the incidence of Lyme disease. What they found is that coyotes are less densely populated than foxes. So what does this mean? Basically: more coyotes = fewer foxes, which equals fewer predators, thus more rodents running about that may be carrying the bacteria for Lyme. The fox is better at outfoxing Lyme...
Burrow Lyme
Understanding the role of predators is key to unlocking better ways to fight this rapidly spreading disease - the more we can drive the white-footed mouse into it's burrow - the less opportunity to spread Lyme!
