Saturday 8 September 2012

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Tiger Leeches in Danum Valley

Whenever people heard there are Tiger Leeches, most of us will freak out. This includes me as well.
I went to Danum Valley for a jungle trekking on the first day I arrived until the last day I stayed in Borneo Rainforest Lodge.

Anyway, Tiger Leeches are not dangerous. It’s just, too freaky to look at because of its colour and the maximum length that they are able to stretch out. Trust me, if you haven’t seen one, the leeches can actually stretch out from 5cm to 10cm. It’s scary, slimy, and, you name it.

Leeches are tricky. They can climb to your legs or body silently without you notices it. I found on at the side of my bra strips and it’s kind of weird and makes me wonder how the hell did it managed to be in my bra strips.

Anyway, this happened to me probably because I felt down on the muddy area in Danum Valley Field Centre and it managed to climb on my body. Lucky enough, I found it when I was in the car when I was on my way out from Danum Valley. Well, of course it ‘successfully’ sucked my blood. Let me tell you, after a leech sucked your blood, you will feel itchy. *scratch scratch* and eventually, there will be a mark, like a dot. That's how I found it and I was shocked, clarify with the handsome driver... it is a leech!

So, that my experience, and my story to you. What’s yours? Let us know. ;)




2 comments:

Unknown said...

Maybe I should be scared.. Oh gosh! I'm scared now! Here's a comment from my Facebook Page on this post.

Eddie Chia wrotes:
Not scary lol they can crawl everywhere like a story about this british guy in amazon took a swim in the river and went back to UK only to found out a leech actually live inside his nose for 2 month until a lady from a coffee shop got shock to see something was crawling out of his nose and back in again...... he went to the doctor to remove it yuck lol

Murphy said...

I once found an article in Malayan Nature Journal (page 156, Vol. 15 December 1961) about a disgusting leech - "True Cattle Leech". I copy it here FYI:

“These are very large leeches measuring up to 50 cm in length and 5 cm in breadth when fully extended. They include two well-known forms, Dinobdella, restricted to the Asian region and Limnatis which is found also in the African region. Both species occur in the nose, throat and vagina of horses, cattle and buffaloes. They prefer highly vascular areas where it is not necessary to pierce a tough skin. These leeches have been reported in the nose, throat and vagina of man, monkeys and dogs. The human cases have been reported mainly from Africa, India, Indonesia and China.”