Brain Parasites Make Their Way Into Shell-Bound Baby Lizards

Scientists found parasitic worms in the brains of lizard embryos. How did they get there?

Transcript

00:00 Scientists found parasitic worms inside the brains of lizard embryos before the animals ever hatched.

00:06 How did they get there?

00:08 It turns out that these parasitic worms

00:14 hide out in the ovaries of the lizards mothers and then make their way into the developing embryo

00:20 before a hardened shell forms around the animal. The scientists that found these worms believe

00:25 this is the first time a parasite has been found that passed from a mother reptile into its offspring.

00:32 This has been found in

00:34 mammalian species

00:36 where a parasite can either pass through the placenta to the

00:40 developing animal or it can be passed on through the breast milk after birth.

00:44 Because this sort of parasitic transmission hadn't been seen in reptiles before,

00:48 scientists thought that by laying eggs reptiles actually

00:53 restricted the number of ways that parasites can get into their young so they'd have to wait until the animals actually hatch before

00:59 burrowing into their brains. But after making the shocking discovery of these worms inside lizard embryos,

01:07 scientists now think that reptilian embryos might be more vulnerable to parasites than once thought.

01:12 But they don't yet know how these worms might affect the animals health and behavior after they hatch.

01:18 [Music]