Parasites

I seem to have found a form of life I've never seen before. Don't be mistaken, I've seen similar sights in the past, but never anything quite like this one. The only problem is that I don't quite know what it is. You see them in the picture above. They appear to be some type of parasite that is growing on this small tree.

The green color of this parasite blends in well with the leaves, but the odd shape really makes these things very easy to spot. I can tell you one thing for certain. My policy of not touching anything was in full strength when I was looking at these awful parasites.

They almost look like pointy seeds or something, but I've never seen any seeds grow on leaves in that way. This is the kind of thing I imagine seeing in a horror movie. The dumb guy touches one of them, and then they inject themselves into him and devour him from the inside out. Disgusting!

As you can see by this next picture the whole tree is covered with them. I looked closely, still not touching, to see if these were made by some of the insects that were crawling on the branches. There were a few ants crawling around, and a harmless looking spider.

I attempted to get a few pictures of the bugs, but that's when the mosquitoes struck! It was very hot out there, and I was sweating profusely. That's like candy to a mosquito! Every time I stopped walking the mosquitoes tore me up! So the mosquitoes are to blame for my lack of pictures of the other bugs.

After all of that, I figured I had overstayed my welcome in the forest this time. I quickly fled from the mosquitoes, the parasites on the plant, and any other parasites that might be lurking in the dark. It just goes to show you, it's better to at least attempt to escape parasites when they first show up. They come in large numbers, and they're totally relentless. I hate parasites!