any specific culture where such references are given?
"Natural History"
Leech
Pliny the Elder reported in his "Natural History" that the horse leech could drive elephants mad by climbing up inside their trunks to drink blood.
does a leech bite? Yes are there bites venomous or poisonous? UNANSWERABLE what is its scientific name? Hirudinea from where does the name originate? UNANSWERABLE is there any correlation between leech and pollution? Exposure to synthetic estrogen from municipal wastewater, can affect leeches' reproductive systems what kind of cultural reference does it have in human society? Horse leech could drive elephants mad by climbing up inside their trunks to drink blood.
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Leech [SEP] In human culture
Pliny the Elder reported in his "Natural History" that the horse leech could drive elephants mad by climbing up inside their trunks to drink blood. Pliny also noted the medicinal use of leeches in ancient Rome, stating that they were often used for gout, and that patients became addicted to the treatment. In Old English, "lǣce" was the name for a physician as well as for the animal, though the words had different origins, and "lǣcecraft", leechcraft, was the art of healing. William Wordsworth's 1802 poem "Resolution and Independence" describes one of the last of the leech-gatherers, people who travelled Britain catching leeches from the wild, and causing a sharp decline in their abundance, though they remain numerous in Romney Marsh.