Fun Summer Facts: Mosquitoes

 

We can't stand them, can we?! There is nothing endearing about them. They buzz around your head at night (especially when you're on holiday) they bite, then it itches. Did you know that it's the female that does all that to you? Did you also know that near the Arctic Circle there are few people, but millions and millions of mosquitoes. Never missing an opportunity to educate ourselves, we thought we'd share some information about our dear friend the mosquito.

Mosquitoes have been around since the Jurassic period. That makes them about 210 million years old. 

There are more than 3,500 species of mosquitoes.

Only female mosquitoes bite people. Both male and female feed mainly on fruit and plant nectar, but the female also needs the protein in blood to help her eggs develop. Once she's had her fill of blood, she'll rest a couple of days before laying her eggs.

Mosquitoes don't have teeth.  The females “bite” with a long, pointed mouthpart called a proboscis. 

Mosquitoes have 6 legs.

A mosquito can drink up to 3 times its weight in blood, but don't worry since it would take about 1.2 million bites to drain all the blood from your body.

The average mosquito lifespan is less than 2 months.

Males locate the females by the sound of their wings. Females can beat their wings up to 500 times per second, and the males pick out the higher frequency of those beats when seeking a mate.

Mosquitoes can't fly very far or very fast. They often stay within several hundred feet of where they were hatched. 

The top speed for a mosquito is about 1.5 miles/hour or approx. 2.4 km/hour.

The bumps from mosquito bites are caused by saliva. While one tube in the proboscis draws blood, a second pumps in saliva containing a mild painkiller and  an anti-coagulant. Most people have minor allergic reactions to the saliva, causing the area around the bite to swell and itch.  

Choose your wardrobe accordingly! Dark clothing attracts mosquitoes. Remember, they are drawn to heat and darker clothes retain more heat than light-colored clothing.

The 2 main mosquito predators are fish and dragonflies. 

Mosquitoes don't see very well, but they zoom in like a heat-seeking missile

As a result, they can't see you until they are 30 feet (10 meters) away. Even then, they have trouble distinguishing you from any object of similar size and shape: tree stump, 55-gallon drum, etc. When they are 10 feet (3 meters) away they use extremely sensitive thermal receptors on the tip of their antennae to locate blood near the surface of the skin.

Bug zappers are useless against mosquitoes. They are attracted to them, but are rarely killed by them. Studies have shown that less than 1 percent of the insects killed by zappers are mosquitoes or other biting insects. 

DEET is considered the most repellent of repellents.  Endorsed by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC),  DEET doesn't mask the smell of the host or jam the insect's senses - mosquitoes simply don't like it because it smells bad to them. A product containing 10 percent DEET can protect you for up to 90 minutes. Two other repellents, picaridin and lemon-eucalyptus oil, have also proven effective and are now recommended by the CDC. 

Citronella candles and smoking coils repel mosquitoes, but you have to stay in the smoky plume to be protected!

Mosquitoes are attracted by CO (Carbon dioxide) in our breath. They can detect it from great distances. When the female mosquito gets close, she makes a final choice using skin temperature, odor and other chemical or visual factors. If two people are outside together, one will almost always get most of the bites. --> This is one time you don't want to be the better smelling person!
 

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