Ticks Get Bolder With Climate Change
Ticks are sanguivores (blood-eaters) as blood is their primary food which the ticks need to survive and thrive. Their feeding habit is said to be of a “concealed feeding”, like mythical vampires, as they feed quietly and go unnoticed.
Coimbatore: ‘Tik, Tik, Tik’ was a Kamal Haasan-starrer, mega-hit thriller directed by legendary Bharathiraja in the early 1980s. The title symbolised the ticking sound of a clock representing mounting tension, a race against time and the relentless countdown in a murder mystery in the film.
But, in real life, the story of ‘tick-talk’ is different. Ticks are mini-real life vampires, they want to suck blood. “It’s a tick. Vampires of the insect world.” This quote would exhibit the fact how dreaded the small ticks are which, in the changing world, pose a threat to public health.
In fact, ticks are not insects at all. While commonly grouped with bugs, ticks are technically arachnids - relatives of spiders and scorpions - rather than true insects, though people often lump them with the insect world.
Ticks are sanguivores (blood-eaters) as blood is their primary food which the ticks need to survive and thrive. Their feeding habit is said to be of a “concealed feeding”, like mythical vampires, as they feed quietly and go unnoticed. It is said the saliva of ticks contains natural numbing and anti-clotting chemicals so the host almost does not feel the tick bite when they bite and feed.
It is learnt that a tick during its feeding uses specialised barbed mouth parts, known as ‘hypostome’, to anchor well into the skin of the host. Ticks also exhibit a special behaviour called ‘questing’ wherein ticks spend long periods between the meals, lowering their metabolism to a minimum while waiting for a passing host to latch onto.
While ticks transmit a wide range of dangerous pathogens that includes bacteria, viruses and parasites which cause serious human and animal health issues, Dr. S. Yaswanthkumar, Assistant Professor, Department of Wildlife Biology at Kongunadu Arts and Science College, Coimbatore, said from shed walls to forest edges, the country witnesses emerging tick pathogens as climate warming, vector redistribution make for tick-borne diseases to surge.
India’s livestock sector is facing a creeping crisis that rarely makes headlines but carries profound implications for rural livelihoods, biodiversity and public health: the unchecked rise of ticks and tick-borne diseases. As cattle move across borders, humans push deeper into forests, and climate change reshapes ecosystems, ticks are quietly expanding their reach and with them, the pathogens they carry, he noted.
The increased trans-boundary movement of livestock inadvertently created highways for ticks. Animals transported for trade or breeding often carry hidden infestations, seeding new populations in regions where they previously did not exist.
At the same time, human settlements into forest margins have intensified contact between livestock, wildlife and people. Free ranging cattle grazing alongside gaur, deer and other ungulates create a two-way interface for pathogen spillover, raising ecological concerns about zoonotic transmission (any infection / disease that spreads from animals to humans), he explained.
“Ticks are obligate blood‑feeders and their life cycle is tightly modulated by interactions between climate, host availability and landscape characteristics. The warm, humid conditions accelerate development, while dry, arid zones favour species adapted to harsher climates. In India’s diverse agro‑climatic zones, this means that species like Rhipicephalus microplus thrive in Bengal’s humidity, while Hyalomma anatolicum dominates semi‑arid Rajasthan. Alarmingly, recent reports show Hyalomma ticks appearing at higher altitudes in Uttarakhand, a clear ecological range shift linked to climate warming trends.
Global studies suggest that even a two‑degree rise in temperature could extend tick transmission seasons by weeks and expand their geographic range by more than 20%. In India, climate‑driven redistribution is already evident. The species once confined to southern states are now reported in central and northern zones. This redistribution poses growing risks for both animal and public health, as emerging and re‑emerging pathogens from Kyasanur Forest Disease virus to Crimean‑Congo haemorrhagic fever exploit new ecological niches, Dr. Yaswanthkumar elucidated.