When a larger animal comes nearby, you climb aboard and hold on tight, burrow down as far as you can then cut a hole and stick your entire head in. You suck and suck and fill your back end with blood until you are full to bursting. Then you drop off, find a hole, lay some eggs and do it all over again.

It’s not much of a life, but it’s enough to keep you around right into the present day.

You are a tiny parasitic blood sucker, commonly known as a tick.