Amazing parasites: plants, mushrooms, animals

"Well, you are a parasite!" The owner says to his cat, who dragged the sausage from the table. "Cursed parasites!" The old woman screams to birds that peck berries in the garden. Yes, we often use this word without thinking about its scientific sense. But for scientists, “parasite” is not at all a curse, not a nickname, but a serious scientific term. In biology, organisms living at the expense of others are called that. We are surrounded by parasites from all sides, although sometimes we do not suspect it. They are everywhere: in water and on land, in a wild forest and in a modern city. Sometimes inside ourselves! Who is not in this huge community! Plants and mushrooms, worms and mollusks, insects and crayfish. There are even fish, birds and animals. All of them are very different, but everyone is united by one common feature of the desire to live at someone else's expense. The world of parasites is fantastically unusual like the world of aliens, miraculously found on our planet. It is often difficult for us to understand their tastes and habits. It is difficult to generally accept their very existence. But this is part of our nature. These are quite earthly creatures and to some extent our evolutionary relatives. They just went the other way. Many will ask: "Why do you need to think about this muck?" We will not generalize, parasites are far from always muck. For example, it is unlikely that anyone will call Omelu with the muck with which the traditions of many peoples are associated. And will the tongue turn to call muck a romantic cuckoo, sung in poetry and songs? But she is also a parasite. How did you not know about it? Or here mushrooms growing in a parasitic way, but bring us, people, benefits. The birch tinder, for example, he is a chaga, serves as a raw material for antitumor drugs. Cordyceps, parasitizing on some types of insects, also serves as a raw material for the manufacture of drugs. There is nothing to say about Penicillin, this parasitic fungus that has made a coup in medicine is known to everyone. And there are many more examples of such extraordinary parasites. You will learn about how parasites live, why they are needed in nature and what can give people from this book. By the way, the first children's book in Russia on a similar topic!

for primary and secondary school age.