What did you expect?

Ballroom Royalty 👑

[ID: The strawman comic showing a person wearing clothing with a sign that all say "stupid [article of clothing]. a person says "This is my over-the-top strawman character. no one actually thinks like that, I'm just using hyperbole to make a point." in the next panel the strawman character appears and says "hi"]

Animals don't have to prove their worth to humans. Animals have as much a right to exist on this planet as humans. A tick's life has as much objective, inherent worth as your life does. But in case you're convinced that animals must have a purpose to be allowed to live:

When ticks feed, they are taking nutrients (blood) from other animals without killing them. Without exoparasites, like ticks, there is no way a spider could eat a deer. The nutrients would be 'locked' in the deer until its death. This is the core role that exoparasites play in the ecosystem - to move nutrients around without violence.

Ticks are an important environmental indicator species. The migration of ticks can tell us a lot about how different areas are affected by climate change.

Ticks create jobs and fuel The Economy by being disease vectors. Is that anthropocentric enough for you?

“wait! gotta put on my sunscreen” [you’re about to walk to 7/11]

“tick season, tuck your pants”

“you know, tick season just keeps getting longer and longer with climate change”

“why didn’t you have your knife with you?”

[knocks their shoes on the sidewalk and fifty pounds of dirt clods fall off]

[going into the rain without an umbrella] “I mean, you’re gonna get wet eventually, right?”

“I hear the rockhounding in this part of the county is INSANE”