Botfly horror

by Chadden Hunter for Amazon under the skin, 25 July 2007

The Amazon jungle literally gets under the skin of Chadden Hunter when he finds a botfly larvae living in his leg.

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Botfly horror

Chadden Hunter tries to get to grips with a bot fly maggot.

Adult bot fly copyright BBC

An adult bot fly

The larvae, if left in Chadden's leg, would eventually turn into a large, adult fly. There are many species of botfly, some of which use an intermediary such as a housefly to carry the egg to the skin of the host where it hatches into a maggot.

Different flies lay their eggs on different kinds of hosts. When Steve Backshall came across a strange looking creature in the forests of Papua New Guinea it turned out to be a caterpillar that looked as if it was being eaten alive.

Published 7 October 2009

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Life

Expedition

Amazon under the skin

Other Stories from this expedition

Previous story:

Uakari: leap of faith

Next story:

Coral snake: beautiful but deadly

Meet the explorer

Chadden Hunter

Chadden has been a wildlife biologist and filmmaker for over 10 years. He is currently a director on Frozen Planet.

Other Stories By Chadden Hunter

Previous story:

Uakari: leap of faith

Amazon under the skin, 2 October 2009

Next story:

Coral snake: beautiful but deadly

Amazon under the skin, 9 October 2009

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