Attack of the leech!

It was then I noticed the leech… attached to my calf! It was terrifying to see something clamped to your skin sucking blood from you, even though you know deep down that it isn’t going to hurt you! I must admit that I even thought it was diving inside my leg at one point and was screeching to mum to get the salt pot out that we had so fortunately brought with us. As mum shook a black powder onto the leech, and the leech shook itself, had a little sneeze and then carried on sucking blood, we realized the error. Not to worry, Andy had our salt pot… which again contained pepper which had absolutely no effect on the leech, who was laughing at us by this time. It turned out that the pot with one hole contained the pepper – never assume anything! After all this performance I was starting to feel faint (!) and dad ended up just pulling it off my leg. Blood was pouring out of the little hole it had made and I wasn’t very impressed about it all! They are clever little organisms though, they insert a needle-like protrusion into the body of the host (i.e. ME!) and secrete an enzyme, hemetin, which dissolves clots once they have formed. This is why the blood keeps flowing for ages after the leech has been removed. Australian leeches can vary in size from about 7mm to an enormous 200mm when extended – I am so glad that my leech was only a couple of centimeters long. Mum and Andy were also ‘leeched’ on the way back!