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dariamorgandorfferr t1_j9wi9ns wrote

Reply to comment by pete1901 in TIL scientists believe people started wearing clothes between 83k and 170k years ago because that's when clothing lice diverged from head lice. by cwood1973

If humans collectively decided to be completely bald head to toe for 1 generation all lice would go extinct, and I think that's the only thing that could unite humanity 😂

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LorenzoStomp t1_j9wktvd wrote

I don't think it would even have to be for that long. Like what's a lice lifespan? A month? Everybody stays shaved for half a year just to be safe and make sure we've tracked down all the stragglers and we're done.

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TheMightyTywin t1_j9wqs04 wrote

We couldn’t even wear masks.. you want the whole world to shave?

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BrashPop t1_j9wvzsz wrote

Now I’m mad thinking about everybody shaving their heads and bodies except like a hundred assholes who just refuse because “It won’t even help, look, I got lice on PURPOSE just to prove how stupid everyone else is!”

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IterationFourteen t1_j9wz1qj wrote

100 is extremally optimistic. More likely ~20%.

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Fark_ID t1_j9zhnja wrote

Wouldn't that 20% then inherit 100% of the lice, thusly eliminating them?

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ZirePhiinix t1_j9xed01 wrote

Convince them the lice is there to spy on you

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NullDivision t1_j9xwz1x wrote

They're like mini government tracker balls on a mocap suit to follow your EVERY ^MOOVVEEEE!!!

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goodtimesforachange6 t1_j9y5h7v wrote

I totally read that wrong and thought you meant some people not shaving their assholes

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VentureQuotes t1_j9xm04s wrote

Conservatives would grow more hair because they live to vice signal. Lice signaling is vice signaling

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TheOftenNakedJason t1_j9xhoie wrote

Hahaha I love this comment. I want it embroidered in a pillow with a minimalist picture of a guy with a beard.

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dariamorgandorfferr t1_j9wn4s1 wrote

I think about this a lot especially with bed bugs. They're an interesting example in ecology because the species of bed bugs we know of .. only parasitizes humans. Unlike mosquitoes, they play 0 role in natural ecosystems, they're fully obligate humanivores. We could fully eradicate bed bugs with no negative consequences to mother nature. Science get on this lol

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CrazedClown101 t1_j9wreex wrote

We tried but we kept killing the eagles.

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bloodmonarch t1_j9wwfzc wrote

The eagle killing will continue until bedbugs is extinct.

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ItsPhayded420 t1_j9xd2jv wrote

Did/does lice not exist for animals ? Genuine question, I've never thought to ask. I know fleas etc. My point being we would have been wearing animal skin/fur and it seems natural for the lice to migrate to us.

Also, fuck bedbugs dude I'd rather have mosquitos, had one experience and I'm still traumatized I will sleep outside fuck those things

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SirRuto t1_j9xee4a wrote

I think I recall every animal species having its own species of mite, sometimes multiple, not too sure about lice but I wouldn't be surprised.

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Exoddity t1_j9xrcwl wrote

There are lice that have their own lice and fleas that have their own fleas.

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bloodmonarch t1_j9xiigq wrote

what are you waiting for then? the eagles aren't going to kill themselves, you know.

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TheMusketDood t1_j9xk2ny wrote

Well the Chiefs already did that so we should be good now.

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iamwizzerd t1_j9xh6nm wrote

Wait really?

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p-d-ball t1_j9xqvt0 wrote

Yeah, DDT was widely used to kill insects. It successfully got rid of malaria in the continental USA to Canada (malaria used to be all the way up to southern Canada), combined with draining swamps, pavement and sewer systems (to drain water away). Mosquitoes returned, but not with malaria, which requires a minimum population to spread.

DDT was also used to stop bedbugs. They are making a comeback partly because it was stopped, but probably also because of growing social inequality - extremely poor people just don't have the means to kill them where they live. And some people are immune to the itchiness and so aren't motivated enough to kill the bedbugs feeding off them.

DDT, it turns out, weakens bird's eggs. So, raptors were dying out all over the place.

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iamwizzerd t1_j9xs98v wrote

Wow thanks

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p-d-ball t1_j9xupj9 wrote

For sure! Want to hear the crazy part? We used to use a product made from chrysanthemum, which is a flower, to kill insects. Massive industry, made in Japan. That industry collapsed with WWII and never recovered, partly because DDT was so cheap.

That kind of sucks, as the flower was obviously natural.

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iamwizzerd t1_j9xwu73 wrote

Dang this is just a whole rabbit hole isn't it?

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p-d-ball t1_j9y4sku wrote

CAPITALISM KILLS EVERYTHING

^(I'm joking for the sensitive bankers out there.)

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Evan_Fishsticks t1_j9xcg1h wrote

Y'all forgetting about the hundreds of other hairy animals we share a planet with? Not to mention the ones we share our house with?

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doyer t1_j9xlmd5 wrote

The ones that affect humans are human specific. Some may end up having some trait that allows them to survive on other animals or vice versa but I wouldn't know about that.

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Silvery-Lithium t1_j9xgd12 wrote

I hate dealing with head lice with a burning passion. I hate body hair as well.

I would not be shaving my head if there were some collective "let's make lice go extinct" thing. Would be more than willing to comb my hair nightly with a lice comb- the only way I successfully dealt with head lice repeatedly as a teen.

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Naamibro t1_j9xsj3q wrote

Public lice live inside the hair follicule, so unlike head lice, if you shave your pubes it does not eradicate the lice.

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spennym t1_ja1g3dr wrote

Do we have the right to choose which animals get to exist and what will disappear? I’d hope someone would play Noah’s ark to save the world’s population of cooties.

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Sure_Monk8528 t1_ja3z8no wrote

Don't forget to pluck all of your eyebrows to take care of those mites too!

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LandlordsR_Parasites t1_j9ws0bf wrote

Do you think lice only attack humans?

Edit: damn

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dariamorgandorfferr t1_j9wtmtq wrote

The lice that attack humans, only attack humans, but there are other species that infect other animals. With bed bugs that's not as much of a thing. (Iirc) I'm not a lice expert though entomology wouldn't fit into my class schedule :(

I'm not a parasitologist though lol ianal (Ignore the fact I brought up bed bugs I'm sorry I thought you replied to my other comment for a second)

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