The #European #hedgehog, #Erinaceus #europaeus is native to parts of southern/ central #Europe, Scandinavia, and northern Russia. It lives solitarily in overlapping #territories and protects itself from #predators by #curlingup, which requires complex muscular coordination.
K. Schütte et al. (2024) identified #ectoparasites of 498 specimens. #Ixodes #ricinus and I. #canisuga were the most abundant #ticks.

© #StefanFWirth #Berlin 2025

Ref
https://doi.org/10.1186/s13071-023-06081-9

#Photos
© S.F. Wirth

All #active #tick #stages (including #Larvae !) feed on #deer , thus enabling #cofeeding #transmission of tick-borne #Diseases

#FREE #Full #text #PDF available at https://goo.gl/gEAbfN

#Ixodes #ricinus #Capreolus #capreolus

#EU #FP6 #EDEN #Project #Emerging #Diseases in a changing #European #eNvironment #Epidemiology #Ticks #Parasites #Pathogens #Science #Scientific #Research #Data #OpenAccess #DOI #Germany #Deutschland #Europe #Europa #TBD #Zoonoses #ZoonoticDiseases #TickBorneDiseases

Forbidden rambutans

#Ricinus #CastorBean #PoisonGarden

The lovely seedballs of the highly toxic Ricinus communis (castor bean plant) in my garden this past summer. The leaves make for a striking contrast among the greenery. I have a soft spot for toxic plants.

#gardening #gardens #ricinus #castorbean #toxins #toxicplants