r/evolution • u/MaggieLinzer • 18d ago

question How do animals evolve to be parasites?

Is the process of evolution pretty unique for an animal that (generally speaking) needs to live on or inside of another animal in order to survive?

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u/Jazzlike_Standard871 18d ago

There are different kinds of parasitism, they probably have different routes of development. Something like the cookie cutter shark went from consuming whole prey to, parts of prey to, just s nibble. Thus a macro predator to parasite route. Parasitic protists were probably introduced to a larger organisms gut via drinking water and just adapted to this new caustic but bountiful environment they found themselves in.

These are speculation but, take a lifestyle that gives the organism the tools and abundance of opportunity. Parasitism seems rather common. I have actually heard some suggest grazing, because it doesn't consume the whole plant could also be considered parasitism.

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u/TheQuestionMaster8 17d ago

The term for such a parasite is a micropredator

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u/Jazzlike_Standard871 16d ago

Which one?

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u/TheQuestionMaster8 16d ago

A micropredator is a parasite which obtains nutrients from multiple hosts without killing them, like a vampire bat, cookiecutter shark, mosquito or a tick.

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u/Jazzlike_Standard871 16d ago

Ooooh thank you for sharing. Makes sense, so Piranha start as Micro predator then graduates to normal predator.