{"id":86997,"date":"2023-07-17T16:52:59","date_gmt":"2023-07-17T20:52:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/naturalsciences.org\/calendar\/?post_type=news&#038;p=86997"},"modified":"2023-07-17T16:52:59","modified_gmt":"2023-07-17T20:52:59","slug":"giant-leeches-may-benefit-ecosystems","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/naturalsciences.org\/calendar\/news\/giant-leeches-may-benefit-ecosystems\/","title":{"rendered":"Giant leeches may benefit ecosystems"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><!-- 16:9 aspect ratio --><\/p>\n<div class=\"embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9\"><iframe class=\"embed-responsive-item\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/34iAVIcTvHk\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p><!-- 16:9 aspect ratio --><br \/>\n&nbsp;<br \/>\nThe largest terrestrial leech in the South, <em>Haemopis septagon<\/em>, has terrifying eating habits. Yet, its presence in pristine ecosystems indicates that it might be beneficial in a way yet to be discovered.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;A wise tinker saves all the pieces,&#8221; says NC Museum of Natural Sciences Emeritus Curator Alvin Braswell, &#8220;It&#8217;s a little dangerous to discard pieces simply because you don&#8217;t know them or understand them.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><em>This video was shot in the Museum\u2019s Non-Molluscan Invertebrate Lab with the help of Dr. Bronwyn Williams. SciNC&#8217;s Rossie Izlar produced the segment.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/c\/unctvscience\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>Sci NC<\/strong><\/a> highlights the latest science stories from North Carolina and across the nation, interviews leading scientists, shares fascinating demonstrations and engages North Carolinians with all things science.<\/p>\n<hr class=\"cleardiv\" \/>\n<p><em>For more information about our upcoming activities, conservation news and ground-breaking research, follow @NaturalSciences on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/naturalsciences\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Instagram<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/naturalsciences\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Twitter<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/naturalsciences\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Facebook<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":86998,"menu_order":0,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naturalsciences.org\/calendar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/86997"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naturalsciences.org\/calendar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naturalsciences.org\/calendar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naturalsciences.org\/calendar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naturalsciences.org\/calendar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/86997\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naturalsciences.org\/calendar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/86998"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naturalsciences.org\/calendar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=86997"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}