Pubic Lice Endangered Due To Habitat Loss

• Hanna wrote on 2013-01-20 02:14
  [Image: http://media.treehugger.com/assets/images/2013/01/pubic_lice.jpg.492x0_q85_crop-smart.jpg]

  
  

  Like it or not, your body is host to an incredible array of microscopic organisms carrying out their lives with you as their ride -- an estimated 100 trillion, to be exact. But for one age-old member of the human body's ecosystem, recent trends in body-hair grooming are endangering its very existence.
  
  For the last 3 million years, humans have played home to the insect parasite Pthirus pubis, commonly known as pubic lice or crab louse, propagating in hair throughout the body, with one region in particular being their favorite. And while our relationship with these tiny bloodsuckers has surely never been a welcome one, pubic lice have come to rely on humans as their one and only host species.
  
  But in a growing number of places throughout the world, this organism is finding new homes harder to come by.
  
  According to a report from Bloomberg News, a rise in the number of bikini or Brazilian waxes and "manscaping" means that around 80 percent of college students in the U.S. have either none, or little pubic lice habitat. Across the globe in Sydney, Australia, clinicians say that infestations haven't been reported in women since 2008.
  
  “Pubic grooming has led to a severe depletion of crab louse populations,” entomologist Ian F. Burgess, of the Insect Research & Development Ltd, tells Bloomberg. “Add to that other aspects of body hair depilation, and you can see an environmental disaster in the making for this species.”
  
  While you might be hard-pressed to find someone other than an insect scientist to mourn the decline of this pesky species, it's still important to note how a small change in human behavior can impact organisms which have been around for so long.

  
  http://www.treehugger.com/natural-sciences/pubic-lice-endangered-due-ahem-habitat-loss.html
  

  [Image: http://media.tumblr.com/ccd1bf7b8f6f1a01ce7d83d68f6c19dc/tumblr_inline_mgfgytj3o51rb2vpw.gif]

  
  Typically I'm all for saving insignificant endangered species, but honestly to hell with you, crabs!
• Mentosftw wrote on 2013-01-20 03:14
  I don't understand, is this article being SYMPATHETIC to lice?
• Kitkat wrote on 2013-01-20 03:20
  Wow. Just... wow. :mad:
• Natural Harmonia Gropius wrote on 2013-01-20 03:54
  They shall not be missed.
• Chihaya wrote on 2013-01-20 04:00
  Good Riddance
• Lewd wrote on 2013-01-20 08:01
  I could care less if parasites go extinct. Fuck them all. Ticks, fleas, mosquitoes. They all suck ass.
• Osayidan wrote on 2013-01-20 13:31
  The lice should move to Japan, if what you see in pornography is any indication to the average population's habits, they'll have no trouble finding pubic hair there...
• Hanna wrote on 2013-01-20 14:23

  Quote from Mentosftw;1017259:

  I don't understand, is this article being SYMPATHETIC to lice?

  
  
  I don't know
  

  While you might be hard-pressed to find someone other than an insect scientist to mourn the decline of this pesky species, it's still important to note how a small change in human behavior can impact organisms which have been around for so long.

  
  I think it's more of this
• Yoorah wrote on 2013-01-20 15:03
  Save the rainforest!
• Taycat wrote on 2013-01-20 15:24
  Now we must make it where head lice leave.
• abc33kr wrote on 2013-01-20 15:40
  Kill all rain forest.
• Drizzit wrote on 2013-01-26 23:55
  The rainforest is responsible for over three-thousand deaths every year.
• Cucurbita wrote on 2013-01-27 00:17

  Quote from Osayidan;1017378:

  The lice should move to Japan, if what you see in pornography is any indication to the average population's habits, they'll have no trouble finding pubic hair there...

  
  
  Asian women should really get in the habit of shaving.
• Synfonia wrote on 2013-01-28 19:01

  Quote from Mythical Detective Loki X;1017411:

  Now we must make it where head lice leave.

  
  We'd all either have to shave our heads or develop coarse head hair. Lice can't hang on to coarse hair, apparently- My mother and I have coarse hair, and I've never gotten lice, even when my little sister got it and spread it to all the other girls in my house. My hair isn't even all that coarse; I just have Middle Eastern hair as opposed to 'white' hair.
• Oizen wrote on 2013-01-28 20:09
  I donate Kollin's crotch to save these lice.