Yeerk
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Yeerk.jpg
A Yeerk is a fictional extraterrestrial species from the book and television series Animorphs. It is a parasite that takes over the mind of another being by way of infestation through the ear canal. The process of infestation by a Yeerk is painless: a numbing chemical is secreted to deaden the ear canal itself so that the sluglike Yeerk will not cause any physical harm to the host.
After the process of infestation, the Yeerk flattens itself into what has been described as "hammered-out Silly Putty" and sinks into all of the cracks and crevices of the brain. From there, all control is submitted involuntarily to the Yeerk. The host has no control over itself anymore.
And, since the Yeerk has access to all parts of the brain, it is able to pass flawlessly as its host (now called a Controller) so that nobody else suspects that there is, in fact, a secret invasion of their planet.
However, the Yeerk parasites cannot stay within their host for more than 3 days. After this period of time, they need to bathe in a Yeerk pool and absorb Kandrona rays, a type of nutrient found in the rays of the Yeerk sun. Without Kandrona, a Yeerk eventually starves.
Yeerks reproduce by fission. Three parent Yeerks meld into one body, which then breaks apart into hundreds of separate grubs, destroying the parents in the process. Yeerk names end in numbers, which designate which number grub they are (i.e. Esplin 9466 is the nine thousandth, four hundredth, and sixty-sixth grub to emerge from the Esplin tri-parent). As a note, earlier in the series, this number was claimed to be a rank, although this seems to have been discarded.
Also, there exists an offshoot of the Yeerk race: the Yoort. The Yoort have long since changed from being parasites, and have become symbionts; They merged with a species created by them, the Isk, with whom they have a symbiotic relationship. The joint species is called Iskoort.
Known hosts: Gedd, Hork-Bajir, Taxxon, Human, Andalite, Leeran, Garatron, Horse
See also: Parasite