Deer carry ticks that can transmit Lyme disease to humans. This is an adult female deer tick, Ixodes damini. Protective clothing may prevent Lyme disease-carrying ticks from attaching to the body. This photograph shows the natural habitat of ticks. Note that this is a park campground intended for both adults and children.
Ticks often hang from overhead branches and drop when they sense body heat below.
A favorite site for ticks is the hairline on the back of the neck. This is a close-up photograph of a tick embedded in the skin. Ticks are important because they can carry diseases such as Rocky Mountain spotted fever, tularemia, Colorado tick fever, Lyme disease, and others. Erythema chronicum migrans is the initial lesion of Lyme disease, and often appears at the site of the infecting tick bite. Borrelia burgdorferi is a spirochete similar to spirochetes of other diseases, such as relapsing fever and syphilis.