WEBVTT - Leechpunk: The Power of Leeches 0:00:03.120 --> 0:00:06.000 Welcome to Stuff to Blow your Mind from how Stuff 0:00:06.000 --> 0:00:14.640 Works dot com. Hey, welcome to Stuff to Blow your Mind. 0:00:14.640 --> 0:00:17.040 My name is Robert Lamb, and I'm Julie Douglas. Julie, 0:00:17.040 --> 0:00:20.200 I want you to imagine an alternate universe not that 0:00:20.320 --> 0:00:23.279 far removed from our own. Everything's pretty much like it is, 0:00:23.320 --> 0:00:27.680 except instead of depending on save batteries for our power, 0:00:28.440 --> 0:00:32.280 depending on electric circuits, we depend on blood sucking leeches. 0:00:32.479 --> 0:00:35.240 I thought you were going to say potatoes or onions. Well, 0:00:35.280 --> 0:00:39.400 that's that's another that's another multiverse. They're infinite multiverses involving 0:00:39.479 --> 0:00:43.120 various substances of power, alternate energy, but in this case, 0:00:43.440 --> 0:00:46.800 blood sucking leeches. All right, well, I guess you know, 0:00:47.080 --> 0:00:49.919 a long time ago, this actually was something that was 0:00:50.240 --> 0:00:53.159 a universe in place where our ancestors in which they 0:00:53.200 --> 0:00:56.120 did depend on leeches. Yeah, yeah, for ages and ages. 0:00:56.200 --> 0:00:58.920 Of course, you know, leeches were used in in in 0:00:59.000 --> 0:01:01.320 medicine just to cure about anything, and we'll get to 0:01:01.360 --> 0:01:04.119 that in a minute. But but the the key point, 0:01:04.600 --> 0:01:07.080 the key Victorian point where you can sort of imagine 0:01:07.520 --> 0:01:11.360 this uh alternate universe of leech power breaking off and 0:01:11.400 --> 0:01:15.600 becoming real. We can we look back to a particular 0:01:15.600 --> 0:01:18.840 invention by the name of the Tempest Prognosticator. This was 0:01:18.880 --> 0:01:22.720 developed by Yorkshire's George Merryweather and it showed up in 0:01:22.720 --> 0:01:26.560 the Great Exhibition at London's Crystal Palace in eighteen fifty one. 0:01:27.440 --> 0:01:31.240 Now this is a device that ended up not making 0:01:31.280 --> 0:01:34.199 a splash. Didn't really impress anybody then, Uh, the science 0:01:34.200 --> 0:01:36.880 didn't hold up. But it was grounded in the idea 0:01:36.920 --> 0:01:41.120 that leeches consents impending changes in the weather via changes 0:01:41.160 --> 0:01:44.960 in the electromagnetic state of the atmosphere. Ah, so sort 0:01:44.959 --> 0:01:48.440 of a barometer of sorts. Weather thought, And I love 0:01:48.520 --> 0:01:52.200 the name of a tempest prognosticator. Yeah, Like even as 0:01:52.240 --> 0:01:54.160 he was naming it, he wanted to get a little 0:01:54.200 --> 0:01:57.560 away from the leach aspect of the invention. Um, it's 0:01:57.560 --> 0:01:59.440 it's it's a beautiful invention. It looks kind of like 0:01:59.480 --> 0:02:03.360 a like a crystal chandelier if that chandelier had little 0:02:03.520 --> 0:02:06.600 tubes with leeches in them, or or Merry go round 0:02:06.680 --> 0:02:11.640 and instead of magical horses, you had glass vials filled 0:02:11.639 --> 0:02:14.560 with leeches. That's what I had described it to myself 0:02:14.600 --> 0:02:17.480 as is this kind of tiny ornate iron carousel with 0:02:17.560 --> 0:02:20.520 these twelve glass jars that were fitted around the carousel, 0:02:20.840 --> 0:02:24.000 and then each of those contained a leech, and according 0:02:24.040 --> 0:02:26.400 to Professor Mark Settle he's also a curator for the 0:02:26.400 --> 0:02:29.000 American Museum of Natural History, the glass was to be 0:02:29.040 --> 0:02:32.440 transparent so that the leeches could see each other and 0:02:32.520 --> 0:02:37.320 agree amongst themselves as to the prognostication. Yeah, you need 0:02:37.360 --> 0:02:39.760 a leech quorum to be to be met. And this 0:02:39.760 --> 0:02:42.360 this is how they would tell everybody whether or not 0:02:42.720 --> 0:02:46.160 the weather was changing. If any leech climbed up and 0:02:46.200 --> 0:02:48.800 into the escape tube, its weight would dislodge a piece 0:02:48.840 --> 0:02:51.359 of whale bone, which would release a hammer that would 0:02:51.440 --> 0:02:55.960 ring the bell announcing inclement weather. Is on hand, I 0:02:56.000 --> 0:02:59.200 love it. I love the simplicity of it. But yet 0:02:59.240 --> 0:03:01.480 it's it's all hinge ng on the idea that these 0:03:01.520 --> 0:03:05.560 these leeches a are are tuned to these electro electromagnetic 0:03:05.639 --> 0:03:09.280 forces in this very specific way, and that they are 0:03:09.280 --> 0:03:11.880 looking to each other for guidance. Uh, that there's some 0:03:11.880 --> 0:03:16.640 sort of a social hierarchy within the leech society that 0:03:16.720 --> 0:03:19.040 will come into play and make this device work. Well, 0:03:19.080 --> 0:03:21.680 it's kind of like the special order of weather monks 0:03:21.800 --> 0:03:26.400 among leeches, right, Um, I mean that's with Crystal Palace 0:03:26.440 --> 0:03:28.840 eighteen fifty one. That is one place I've always wanted 0:03:28.880 --> 0:03:32.919 to time travel too, and now even more so because 0:03:32.960 --> 0:03:35.280 think about all of these wacky things that you've got to, 0:03:35.440 --> 0:03:38.040 not only the Crystal Palace itself, it was just an 0:03:38.040 --> 0:03:41.080 amazing piece of architecture. Yeah, and so so many of 0:03:41.080 --> 0:03:43.520 those invations there would have each been a portal off 0:03:43.560 --> 0:03:46.119 to a different multiverse verse had it really taken off. 0:03:46.320 --> 0:03:48.840 So you're saying there's a possibility that I could somehow 0:03:49.000 --> 0:03:52.240 time travel there? Is that what you're saying, Well, maybe 0:03:52.280 --> 0:03:56.120 maybe that's that's a whole another podcast, right, but maybe Okay, Well, 0:03:56.120 --> 0:04:00.680 the point of this is that obsession abounds with leeches, 0:04:00.960 --> 0:04:03.120 and for good reason. We will find out because leeches 0:04:03.160 --> 0:04:06.760 have some really important properties. But first let's discuss what 0:04:06.840 --> 0:04:10.880 they are as an organism. What is a leech really? Well, 0:04:10.960 --> 0:04:12.600 when you're talking about a leech, of course, you're talking 0:04:12.600 --> 0:04:16.880 about hundreds of species. Some people currently there's you're looking 0:04:16.880 --> 0:04:19.839 at account between six hundred and seven hundred species, but 0:04:19.960 --> 0:04:21.560 some people think there could be as many as ten 0:04:21.600 --> 0:04:24.760 thousand species out there in the world. Because we're discovering 0:04:24.800 --> 0:04:29.560 new species of leech on a pretty regular basis here um. 0:04:29.760 --> 0:04:33.159 So they range in size from leeches that are just 0:04:33.279 --> 0:04:35.920 over just a one centimeter in length to twenty five 0:04:35.960 --> 0:04:39.479 centimeters in length UM. Some of them actually are not 0:04:39.520 --> 0:04:42.640 blood suckers. Some feed on decaying plant material. But it's 0:04:42.680 --> 0:04:46.360 the more famous kinds that that we tend to associate 0:04:46.360 --> 0:04:49.000 with leeches, the blood suckers, right, especially those that attached 0:04:49.000 --> 0:04:51.240 to human skin. Those are the ones most of most 0:04:51.279 --> 0:04:53.240 interest to human beings. Those are the ones we are 0:04:53.240 --> 0:04:55.600 most familiar with. And what we're talking about here nuts 0:04:55.600 --> 0:04:59.200 and bolts. A blood sucking animalid worm, and as you say, 0:04:59.240 --> 0:05:02.040 they can grow up to about twelve inches, and not 0:05:02.080 --> 0:05:06.760 all of them are sanguivorous. That's the term for blood suckers. 0:05:07.600 --> 0:05:10.679 One of the best known leaches is called the medicinal leech, 0:05:10.880 --> 0:05:13.120 and it has a sucker at each end of the 0:05:13.200 --> 0:05:16.799 underside of its body. One sucker at the end contains 0:05:16.800 --> 0:05:19.200 the animal's mouth and the other sucker acts as a 0:05:19.240 --> 0:05:22.760 suction cup when the leach attaches itself to its victim, 0:05:22.800 --> 0:05:25.640 and once attached this is so great. The leech slashes 0:05:25.680 --> 0:05:28.800 its victim's skin with its sharp teeth and sucks the 0:05:28.800 --> 0:05:31.880 blood and it injects the wound with a substance that 0:05:31.960 --> 0:05:37.000 keeps blood from clotting. Really important. We'll talk about that later. Yeah, 0:05:37.080 --> 0:05:40.960 hirodo medicinalysis, the medical leach. I also love that it's 0:05:41.120 --> 0:05:44.400 it's it's three jaws. Now, not all leeches have three jaws. 0:05:44.520 --> 0:05:47.400 Some have to to to jaw leeches. That's gonna make 0:05:47.440 --> 0:05:50.159 a V shaped wound, But the three jaws make this 0:05:50.360 --> 0:05:54.400 Y shaped wound for sucking. Now, you see them on 0:05:54.400 --> 0:05:56.039 the land, you see them on an arm or something, 0:05:56.120 --> 0:05:57.840 and they look kind of slow and wiggly, just some 0:05:57.920 --> 0:06:01.080 sort of you know, just sting worm that can't move 0:06:01.080 --> 0:06:03.160 around all. They much been in the water. That's where 0:06:03.200 --> 0:06:07.440 they can really move. They use this undulating motions, wave 0:06:07.520 --> 0:06:10.599 like like motion to propel themselves through the water. And then, 0:06:10.800 --> 0:06:12.560 like you said, they attached on they feed and while 0:06:12.560 --> 0:06:16.920 they're feeding, well basically they are two different acts that 0:06:16.960 --> 0:06:19.760 this applies to, but feeding and mating. Once they've started 0:06:19.760 --> 0:06:21.720 on that, you can actually cut a leech in half 0:06:21.880 --> 0:06:24.599 and it won't notice. It'll just finish because they really 0:06:24.960 --> 0:06:28.560 they're the laser focused on the zone, right, they're in 0:06:28.600 --> 0:06:32.360 the zone. Yeah, And another thing is that they don't 0:06:32.480 --> 0:06:34.480 just fill up with blood and as we do when 0:06:34.480 --> 0:06:36.400 we fill up with burgers or whatever, just kind of 0:06:36.560 --> 0:06:40.040 groan and and fall asleep. That's because the blood never 0:06:40.120 --> 0:06:43.919 really coagulates. They've got the anti coagulating agents that is 0:06:43.920 --> 0:06:46.080 circulating around in their body. So it's not like they 0:06:46.080 --> 0:06:47.800 sit there and they become a lump and they just 0:06:48.800 --> 0:06:53.240 you know, hang out for eighteen months asleep, although they 0:06:53.320 --> 0:06:57.720 can subsist for eighteen months without food. But they are 0:06:57.800 --> 0:07:01.560 quite mobile even with these really full bellies. Yeah, they 0:07:01.560 --> 0:07:03.159 don't eat for a long time, but when they do eat, 0:07:03.279 --> 0:07:05.720 they really go for it. They'll remain in place for 0:07:06.080 --> 0:07:09.279 thirty minutes to six hours or more, filling up with 0:07:09.279 --> 0:07:12.280 a blood and if they can. For instance, you can 0:07:12.320 --> 0:07:14.360 take four or five leeches attached them to a rabbit 0:07:14.680 --> 0:07:17.240 and drain the life from it in just half an hour. 0:07:17.440 --> 0:07:20.480 That's how quick. And they can reach eleven times their 0:07:20.520 --> 0:07:23.640 actual size, uh, their their normal size as they bloat 0:07:23.720 --> 0:07:26.720 up on that blood. Pretty convenient right now, they have 0:07:26.760 --> 0:07:29.480 to make every every meal count. They'll attached to skin, 0:07:29.800 --> 0:07:32.600 but they've also been known to attach to eyeballs, uh, 0:07:33.000 --> 0:07:38.480 orifices in the throat um. There's a there's an account 0:07:38.800 --> 0:07:43.280 Napoleon's troops were marching from Egypt across the Sinai Peninsula 0:07:43.360 --> 0:07:46.520 to Syria, and so they're they're really parched. They've come 0:07:46.520 --> 0:07:48.680 across some water. They just fall upon it to start 0:07:48.720 --> 0:07:51.080 drinking as much as possible. But there were leeches in it, 0:07:51.160 --> 0:07:53.160 and so a number of the soldiers end up with 0:07:53.240 --> 0:07:56.360 leeches in their throat. There's some swelling, there's some choking, 0:07:56.400 --> 0:07:59.280 there's some death. Really her into stuff. All right. Well, 0:07:59.360 --> 0:08:03.840 let's add to a nightmare fuel by describing one leech 0:08:04.000 --> 0:08:06.760 species in particular which is fairly new to the roundup 0:08:06.760 --> 0:08:10.840 of leeches. And Uh, we're talking about a leech that 0:08:10.920 --> 0:08:12.800 goes by I don't on the street name of the 0:08:12.920 --> 0:08:16.600 t rex leech. Yes, we're talking about Tyronto bidella rex, 0:08:16.720 --> 0:08:20.320 the tyrant leech king. Uh. This guy reaches up to 0:08:20.440 --> 0:08:24.680 forty four point five millimeters in length and goes right 0:08:24.720 --> 0:08:27.720 for the body orifices of specifically the nose in the mouth. 0:08:28.360 --> 0:08:32.040 Um and uh, most generally it's feeding on aquatic animals, 0:08:32.400 --> 0:08:35.240 aquatic mammals rather uh and again go to the nose, 0:08:35.360 --> 0:08:37.760 the mouth and then they'll name me. Stay there for 0:08:37.800 --> 0:08:40.840 a week at a time, feasting. Yeah, this was discovered 0:08:40.880 --> 0:08:44.280 in two thousand and ten, uh in the Upper Amazon, 0:08:44.920 --> 0:08:48.600 when scientists plucked from the nose of a girl one 0:08:48.640 --> 0:08:51.000 of these t rex is who had recently been bathing 0:08:51.040 --> 0:08:54.400 in a river. So if that's not all just kind 0:08:54.440 --> 0:08:57.680 of like, okay, that's that's slightly uncomfortable. And now consider 0:08:57.800 --> 0:09:01.320 that the t rex has ferociously large teeth lining a 0:09:01.440 --> 0:09:05.120 single jaw. So this is an even even different variation. 0:09:05.200 --> 0:09:06.720 We have the three job, we have the two job, 0:09:07.200 --> 0:09:09.360 and now this is the one job leech, but with 0:09:09.400 --> 0:09:11.280 the teeth to make up for it. Well, and it's 0:09:11.360 --> 0:09:14.120 it's uh, it's even more dramatic. We see pictures of 0:09:14.120 --> 0:09:16.760 it because really we're talking about a leech that is 0:09:16.840 --> 0:09:18.880 less than three inches long, and then you see the 0:09:18.920 --> 0:09:22.360 teeth in comparison, and it's just kind of recoil a bit. 0:09:22.679 --> 0:09:25.360 But the t retch leech uses its teeth to saw 0:09:25.440 --> 0:09:29.080 into the tissues of mammals orifices. So again we're talking 0:09:29.160 --> 0:09:33.960 eyes eurefas rectum's jos sawing into it with its teeth. 0:09:34.480 --> 0:09:36.160 All right, Well, on that note, we're gonna take a break, 0:09:36.200 --> 0:09:38.360 and when we come back, we're going to discuss the 0:09:38.480 --> 0:09:41.480 role of the leach as the healer and uh also 0:09:41.480 --> 0:09:54.240 look a detective. All right, Now that you've had a 0:09:54.280 --> 0:09:56.520 palate cleanser with stamps dot com and we can get 0:09:56.520 --> 0:09:59.160 away from the old t rex, let's talk about leeches 0:09:59.240 --> 0:10:02.440 back in the day. Yeah, so leeches, they've been used 0:10:02.480 --> 0:10:05.520 in medicine for thousands of years and the once once 0:10:05.520 --> 0:10:08.440 believed to remove illness causing humors from the blood. So 0:10:08.480 --> 0:10:12.840 this is based in and very uh non scientific ideas 0:10:12.920 --> 0:10:14.640 about how the body works. I mean, some of the 0:10:15.240 --> 0:10:17.960 arguably the best ideas of the time, but still ideas 0:10:18.000 --> 0:10:20.400 that did not hold water. These are the humors of 0:10:20.400 --> 0:10:23.320 the body. We're talking about phlegm and blood and file. 0:10:23.559 --> 0:10:26.440 So the idea is that you let someone bleed a 0:10:26.440 --> 0:10:30.079 bit and that helps to balance out those different humors. Yeah, 0:10:30.120 --> 0:10:32.000 your humors are out of whack and you need to 0:10:32.040 --> 0:10:34.240 get rid of the bad blood. So yeah, you end 0:10:34.320 --> 0:10:37.040 up treating everything from gout to flash once to mental 0:10:37.080 --> 0:10:40.600 illness with a hefty dose of leeches. Uh. It's it's 0:10:40.640 --> 0:10:43.360 interesting that the word leech itself is derived from the 0:10:43.400 --> 0:10:47.000 Anglo Saxon word looks to heal, and medieval doctors actually 0:10:47.080 --> 0:10:50.319 called themselves leeches, which is interesting because I've run across 0:10:50.320 --> 0:10:52.840 that before, and I thought maybe it was used mockingly, 0:10:53.000 --> 0:10:55.440 you know, to say, oh, well he's just a leeches. No, no, 0:10:55.520 --> 0:10:58.280 I think with pride, I am a leech. What can 0:10:58.280 --> 0:11:00.880 I do for you today? Uh? Yeah, physicians applied lea 0:11:00.960 --> 0:11:03.600 just to areas like the gums, lips, the nose, fingers, 0:11:03.640 --> 0:11:07.840 and even quote the mouth of the womb, according to 0:11:07.880 --> 0:11:10.840 a medical text from So why would they do that? 0:11:11.000 --> 0:11:13.400 Because granted, there are a lot of crazy ideas that 0:11:13.480 --> 0:11:16.600 have become that have had their day in history treating 0:11:16.679 --> 0:11:20.839 using some sort of natural creature or a derivative in 0:11:20.840 --> 0:11:23.360 in order to attempt to treat some sort of malady. 0:11:23.720 --> 0:11:26.480 But in this case, we're coming down to two key 0:11:26.520 --> 0:11:28.480 things about the leach. First of all, when a leech 0:11:28.520 --> 0:11:31.960 attack attaches, like many parasitic organisms, it uh, it is 0:11:32.000 --> 0:11:35.520 desensitizing the sensations, so you're not feeling the pain of 0:11:35.559 --> 0:11:38.440 it actually uh slicing into your flesh for a meal. 0:11:38.640 --> 0:11:40.920 But then, of course the other thing is your wound. 0:11:41.080 --> 0:11:43.360 This freshly cut wound is a font from which this 0:11:43.440 --> 0:11:46.720 leech wishes to drink and does not want that font 0:11:46.720 --> 0:11:49.320 to close before it has had its fill. So the 0:11:49.400 --> 0:11:53.360 leech has um an anticoagulant in its saliva as well. 0:11:53.920 --> 0:11:59.400 That prohibits the the the coagulation of blood keeps it flowing. Okay, 0:11:59.440 --> 0:12:01.840 So it's a end way to blood let someone because 0:12:01.840 --> 0:12:04.320 they can't really feel it, and it's a way to 0:12:04.400 --> 0:12:07.800 keep that blood flowing too. Damaged tissues, right, So it 0:12:08.040 --> 0:12:10.280 gives a fresh supply to any sort of damaged tissues. 0:12:10.840 --> 0:12:13.040 And here's the thing. It became so popular in the 0:12:13.120 --> 0:12:17.000 nineteenth century that the species became endangered in Europe. In 0:12:17.160 --> 0:12:20.960 eighteen thirty three, French doctors imported forty one million, five 0:12:21.040 --> 0:12:25.480 hundred thousand leeches. Yeah, I was reading how in the 0:12:25.559 --> 0:12:28.880 nineteenth century had governments that were imposing carraffs and trade bands. 0:12:29.200 --> 0:12:31.800 There was a leech smuggling operation on the Russian border, 0:12:32.360 --> 0:12:34.040 and and this was all the more difficult to because 0:12:34.040 --> 0:12:36.560 of the time. Breeding efforts weren't all that successful, so 0:12:36.600 --> 0:12:39.760 you just had leech catchers going out into the wild 0:12:39.760 --> 0:12:42.319 and just harvesting them, to the point that that the 0:12:43.000 --> 0:12:46.040 medicinal leech was in danger of extinction at one point, 0:12:46.080 --> 0:12:49.000 and to this day it's it's rarity in the in 0:12:49.040 --> 0:12:55.240 the wild is partially attributed to over harvesting. So you know, 0:12:55.480 --> 0:12:59.480 physicians of old were sort of onto something, right, this 0:12:59.559 --> 0:13:02.480 idea that maybe this could help in terms of bringing 0:13:02.520 --> 0:13:05.640 fresh blood to damage tissues. On the other hand, you 0:13:05.720 --> 0:13:08.839 have to say that the leech's ability to cure or 0:13:08.960 --> 0:13:14.240 wildly overseated, so flatulence probably not cured by this. In fact, 0:13:14.320 --> 0:13:16.360 a lot of stuff that they used it for, um, 0:13:16.400 --> 0:13:17.960 And that's kind of what we think of today, is 0:13:18.000 --> 0:13:22.440 that this was this barbaric use of leeches. It's like saying, oh, 0:13:22.440 --> 0:13:24.440 I have a migraine, Well, let a wolverine chew on 0:13:24.480 --> 0:13:26.200 your leg and you'll get over that kind of thing. 0:13:26.240 --> 0:13:29.280 But no, that does not work. It doesn't work. But 0:13:29.400 --> 0:13:31.719 at heart, that the end of the reason, like the 0:13:32.000 --> 0:13:35.480 core reason that the leech does have a place in 0:13:35.559 --> 0:13:38.960 modern medicine is that at heart, as a parasite, a 0:13:39.080 --> 0:13:42.560 leech is a manipulator of human physiology, much like a 0:13:42.640 --> 0:13:46.680 doctor in in in a very broad um scheme of things. 0:13:47.240 --> 0:13:50.400 So if you want to manipulate the way tissues work, 0:13:50.640 --> 0:13:53.280 a lot of times we're always looking to nature for examples, 0:13:53.280 --> 0:13:56.959 for for some bio inspiration on how nature has evolved 0:13:56.960 --> 0:13:59.760 to tackle a problem. So here's a case where this 0:14:00.000 --> 0:14:04.000 teacher has evolved over millions of years to uh be 0:14:04.120 --> 0:14:09.640 an expert at manipulating blood flow through tissue. And so 0:14:09.720 --> 0:14:12.040 when a doctor, a modern doctor, needs to manipulate blood 0:14:12.200 --> 0:14:15.160 flow through tissue, we turned to the leech. That's right, 0:14:15.200 --> 0:14:18.080 and that's why they are now the comeback kid. And 0:14:18.160 --> 0:14:21.440 now they are the symbiotic sort of parasite as as 0:14:21.440 --> 0:14:24.320 opposed to one that's just uh one that we should 0:14:24.400 --> 0:14:28.720 fear and that seems barbaric. In medieval medicine, Yeah, for instance, 0:14:29.000 --> 0:14:31.840 tissue grafting and limb reattachment surgery, this is a big one. 0:14:32.040 --> 0:14:35.440 Surgeons sometimes use the leeches to remove pools of congested 0:14:35.480 --> 0:14:38.720 blood from swollen areas that interfere with the circulation and 0:14:38.840 --> 0:14:43.080 can cause tissue death following surgery. Um. So this in 0:14:43.120 --> 0:14:46.600 addition to the way that the the herodin the intercollegulate 0:14:47.040 --> 0:14:50.160 prevents clotting in the local anesthetic in it that that 0:14:50.240 --> 0:14:54.880 also features some antibiotic properties. Yeah, and this uh actually 0:14:55.000 --> 0:14:56.560 sort of came to light more in a case in 0:14:56.680 --> 0:15:00.640 nine five in which there was a harder toward physician 0:15:00.640 --> 0:15:02.680 who was having a hard time reattaching the ear of 0:15:02.680 --> 0:15:06.200 a five year old child. The tiny veins kept clotting, 0:15:06.400 --> 0:15:10.760 and so it's really difficult to try to um reattach 0:15:10.880 --> 0:15:14.800 something with these minute veins, right, so the physician thought, 0:15:15.680 --> 0:15:18.600 maybe I'll use a leech and lo and behold he 0:15:18.680 --> 0:15:22.560 did it. It helped those tiny little minute veins to 0:15:22.600 --> 0:15:26.080 get fresh blood, and the ear was saved, and people 0:15:26.120 --> 0:15:29.680 began to reconsider the leecher's role in medicine. Yeah. And 0:15:29.680 --> 0:15:32.640 and as as your point out a specifically with microsurgery, 0:15:32.640 --> 0:15:35.640 where you're dealing with these tiny blood vessels that that 0:15:35.760 --> 0:15:39.280 are very difficult to manipulate. Yes, since then, lee just 0:15:39.400 --> 0:15:42.560 have helped to save lives and limbs, reducing severe and 0:15:42.680 --> 0:15:47.440 dangerous venous and gorgement post surgery and fingers toes, ears, 0:15:47.680 --> 0:15:55.120 scalp reattachments, limb transplants, skin flap surgery, and breast reconstruction. Yeah. 0:15:55.200 --> 0:15:57.880 And and there are other areas where that where researchers 0:15:57.880 --> 0:16:01.920 are looking at possible applications. UM. For instance, uh uh. 0:16:02.000 --> 0:16:05.640 Andreas Michelson, a researcher at the University of Duisburg Essen 0:16:05.680 --> 0:16:08.400 in Germany, suggests that leech therapy may lessen the pain 0:16:08.480 --> 0:16:12.560 and inflammation associated with osteo arthritis. Um. You know this, 0:16:12.600 --> 0:16:15.080 of course, is a debilitating disease where the bones can 0:16:15.120 --> 0:16:18.320 grind against one another and the cartilage is worn down 0:16:18.360 --> 0:16:22.800 over time. So in order to get medicinal leeches for use, 0:16:23.120 --> 0:16:24.800 how do you how do you go about it? Still 0:16:24.800 --> 0:16:28.320 collect them in the backyard. Well, collecting leeches is one way, 0:16:28.560 --> 0:16:30.600 and certainly leeches are collected, I should point out not 0:16:30.680 --> 0:16:33.400 only for medicinal use, but also is bait and fishing. 0:16:33.880 --> 0:16:36.080 And in order to collect leeches, I was I was 0:16:36.120 --> 0:16:39.200 thinking maybe it involves some you know, hard on his 0:16:39.320 --> 0:16:42.000 luck individual just taking a dive into the leechy waters 0:16:42.040 --> 0:16:44.960 and then coming out and plucking them off. But generally 0:16:44.960 --> 0:16:46.960 what it involves is like beef kidneys in a bag. 0:16:47.360 --> 0:16:49.440 Just put beef kidneys in a bag. They go for it. 0:16:49.720 --> 0:16:52.200 Like I said, their their their taste is rather simple. 0:16:52.440 --> 0:16:54.480 So in a sense they're rather easy to catch. That 0:16:54.480 --> 0:16:56.840 sounds about right, Yeah, beef kidneys in a bag that 0:16:56.880 --> 0:16:59.640 they are then submerged into water and then the leeches come. 0:16:59.640 --> 0:17:00.760 Then you can the bag out and you've got a 0:17:00.760 --> 0:17:03.480 bunch of leeches, all right. So I wonder if that's 0:17:03.560 --> 0:17:05.919 one of the techniques that bio Farm, which is a 0:17:05.960 --> 0:17:08.760 company based in Britain, uses because they are the go 0:17:09.000 --> 0:17:12.640 to source for leeches in the medical community, and they 0:17:12.640 --> 0:17:15.920 provide tens of thousands of leeches every year to hospitals 0:17:15.920 --> 0:17:19.280 and dozens of countries, and two species are commonly used 0:17:19.280 --> 0:17:22.119 in leech therapy, and they can last for about up 0:17:22.200 --> 0:17:25.920 to ten days. Okay, so they're definitely male safe. You 0:17:25.960 --> 0:17:28.399 can send them to the mail. They're males. Now. The 0:17:28.440 --> 0:17:33.240 downsides here are that sometimes they slip off patients and 0:17:33.280 --> 0:17:37.080 they reattach themselves in unwanted places. Yeah, it's a bit 0:17:37.119 --> 0:17:40.080 like hurting kittens in some respects. They have to just 0:17:40.320 --> 0:17:42.359 you have to put gas around the surgical side and 0:17:42.960 --> 0:17:45.159 just really limit where they can go and say this 0:17:45.280 --> 0:17:47.520 is the only spot you're allowed to feed from right here. 0:17:47.600 --> 0:17:50.399 This is the one second down side. They fill up, 0:17:50.440 --> 0:17:53.320 they get full, they fall off. Yes, okay, of course 0:17:53.359 --> 0:17:55.719 you can replace that one with another one. But for 0:17:55.760 --> 0:17:59.159 those who just cannot even stand the idea of a 0:17:59.240 --> 0:18:02.960 leech sucking on them, even though it might save their life. Uh. 0:18:03.000 --> 0:18:06.359 There is Nadine Connor who is a University of Wisconsin 0:18:06.400 --> 0:18:09.440 atmos and scientists who in two thousand and one helped 0:18:09.480 --> 0:18:13.159 develop a mechanical leech. The device looks a little bit 0:18:13.200 --> 0:18:15.800 like a small bottle attached to a section cup, and 0:18:15.840 --> 0:18:19.160 it delivers that anti coagulating drug. Then the most important 0:18:19.160 --> 0:18:22.640 part right to damage tissue and then gently sucks out 0:18:22.680 --> 0:18:26.080 as much blood as needed, never drops off and says, oh, 0:18:26.119 --> 0:18:28.320 I need a nap. So it's like all the power 0:18:28.359 --> 0:18:30.719 of the leech, but without the having to deal with 0:18:30.760 --> 0:18:35.320 the drama and the attitudes and the prima donna of 0:18:35.359 --> 0:18:39.600 the leech. Yeah, there's no like separate dressing room. It's 0:18:39.640 --> 0:18:42.760 just it doesn't care. This mechanical leech. Now, another advantage 0:18:42.760 --> 0:18:45.280 of the mechanical leech is that up to twenty of 0:18:45.320 --> 0:18:49.080 patients that are treated with real leeches developed infection caused 0:18:49.119 --> 0:18:52.800 by aeromanus hydrophilia of bacteria that leaves and lives in 0:18:52.840 --> 0:18:56.119 the leech is gut. And these infections are easily treated 0:18:56.119 --> 0:19:00.399 with antibiotics. But again, it's another reason to ry and 0:19:00.400 --> 0:19:05.600 remove ourselves from having to depend on a natural parasite. Indeed, 0:19:06.000 --> 0:19:09.520 if this hasn't changed your ideas of leeches or you know, 0:19:09.800 --> 0:19:12.520 cast it a new light of how leeches can operate 0:19:12.560 --> 0:19:14.719 out there in the world, you have to consider this 0:19:14.800 --> 0:19:19.840 next scenario. Uh, it's a it's a bit like Sherlock Leach, right, 0:19:19.920 --> 0:19:23.719 Sherlock Leach. Yes, you can imagine the leech creeping onto 0:19:23.760 --> 0:19:26.440 the scene of the crime and you know, wearing the hat, 0:19:26.600 --> 0:19:29.760 smoking the pipe, playing the violin. It's not quite like that. 0:19:30.080 --> 0:19:32.800 So about ten years ago, uh, we had this guy 0:19:32.840 --> 0:19:36.600 named Peter Cannon and uh, this is in Tasmania. He 0:19:36.640 --> 0:19:38.359 ties up a seventy one year old woman in a 0:19:38.440 --> 0:19:42.479 remote home, steals several hundred dollars in cash, and uh, 0:19:43.160 --> 0:19:45.280 the thing he doesn't realize that he's committing this crime 0:19:45.520 --> 0:19:48.560 is that he has a leech attached to him. And 0:19:48.600 --> 0:19:50.440 it is and this is luck would have it. It's 0:19:50.520 --> 0:19:53.359 just finished feeding on him as he's perpetrating this crime 0:19:53.960 --> 0:19:55.560 and does what a leech does when it's filled up, 0:19:55.560 --> 0:19:58.800 It drops off and then he takes off. Right. So 0:19:58.920 --> 0:20:01.320 this scene of the the scene of the crime. So 0:20:01.720 --> 0:20:03.960 you can imagine the detectives coming in. They're looking around 0:20:04.080 --> 0:20:06.480 and then somebody thinks to themselves, hey, there's a full 0:20:06.560 --> 0:20:10.000 leech on the ground. I wondered that as anyway involved. 0:20:09.760 --> 0:20:12.080 And because they all checked themselves and said, I don't 0:20:12.080 --> 0:20:14.920 have lee, you know that the victim of the crime 0:20:14.960 --> 0:20:17.760 doesn't have any leech bites. So where did this mysterious 0:20:17.840 --> 0:20:22.760 leech come from? That's so that's clearly bloated on blood. Well, Uh, 0:20:23.000 --> 0:20:27.320 the case had remained unsolved up until forensic experts extracted 0:20:27.440 --> 0:20:31.359 DNA from the leeches gut contents, and then they matched 0:20:31.440 --> 0:20:34.560 up fingerprint profiles to those on a record for Cannon. 0:20:34.680 --> 0:20:38.040 Peter Cannon, the perpetrator here, and then he ended up 0:20:38.119 --> 0:20:41.240 leading guilty and and they had him. Yeah. I think 0:20:41.240 --> 0:20:43.520 this is such a great story because here's this jerk 0:20:43.680 --> 0:20:46.120 who tied up this old lady. Thought he was being 0:20:46.240 --> 0:20:48.879 really clever. He was probably on foot going through the bush, 0:20:49.240 --> 0:20:52.120 got one of these leeches stuck to him, made off 0:20:52.200 --> 0:20:55.040 scott free. He thinks that. Eight years later he gets 0:20:55.119 --> 0:20:57.920 hold over. I think it's for a drug offense, right, Yeah, 0:20:58.040 --> 0:21:02.520 he gets cross checked with that database. Bam. Detective Leech 0:21:02.800 --> 0:21:04.720 is on the case. I wonder if they let into 0:21:04.720 --> 0:21:06.959 it by saying, so, Mr Cannon, have you ever had 0:21:06.960 --> 0:21:09.240 a leech attached to your body? And he's stone for 0:21:09.240 --> 0:21:11.439 a curve, like, what what can they possibly have on me? 0:21:12.000 --> 0:21:13.840 And then the leech they bring the leech in, the 0:21:13.920 --> 0:21:16.400 leech like points at him through the class. I think 0:21:16.480 --> 0:21:18.479 that's the one exactly what happened. I think he had 0:21:18.520 --> 0:21:22.879 a pipe in the hat and everything. It's elementary nice, 0:21:23.640 --> 0:21:25.640 all right. Before we leave this topic that I would 0:21:25.680 --> 0:21:28.160 do want to mention I mentioned that that to overharvesting 0:21:28.200 --> 0:21:31.640 of reaches leeches is one of the reasons that medicinal 0:21:31.720 --> 0:21:36.000 leeches are rare in the natural world today. Another suspected 0:21:36.040 --> 0:21:39.680 reason is that when leeches are young, they can't yet 0:21:39.720 --> 0:21:43.359 attach to larger mammals. They have to attach to frogs. 0:21:43.400 --> 0:21:46.040