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Video: Wildlife: why do mosquitoes drink blood and why do they die?
2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:55
Before I explain to you why mosquitoes drink blood, I want to introduce you to the general course of things. Perhaps some of you, dear readers, are still not aware, but not all mosquitoes suck blood. Some of them feed on nectar (such as males), others prefer to suck the juice from plants, and there are species that do not feed at all (such as centipedes)! Usually these "herbivorous" mosquitoes gather outside the city in whole clusters of tens and even hundreds of thousands of individuals! They jostle in one place, making a piercing ringing that attracts females … A mating period is expected. But more about that some other time. Now we are interested in why mosquitoes drink blood, which means that we will talk about females. They are the real vampires! It is they who do not give us rest neither during the day nor, moreover, at night!
Why do mosquitoes drink blood?
So, only female mosquitoes bite humans and animals. Males are out of the question! "Bloody menu" is caused not by the whims of females, but by necessity! The fact is that our blood is rich in various nutrients, the main of which is protein. For males, the greatest interestrepresent carbohydrates found in sweet flower nectars. That's why they don't care about us!
The fact is that our protein is the building material needed by the female for the production and normal development of her eggs. After all, plant foods, as you know, are not rich in proteins. From the full consumption of this "building material" by the female mosquito, the entire cycle of laying her eggs is directly dependent. The more protein the mosquito consumed, the better its laying will be. That is why the female can suck blood much more than her own weight (unless, of course, she is slammed).
Of course, you shouldn't think that the only explanation why mosquitoes drink blood lies in their ability to reproduce. The female will lay eggs in any case, but if she does not pump the required amount of blood, she will die the death of the heroine: she will give her own proteins to the eggs at the cost of her life. However, if the mosquitoes don't have access to blood at all as a food source, they will simply die out!
How do mosquitoes drink blood?
This process takes them exactly three minutes. For females, there is no difference in who they bite - a person or an animal. Scientists have found that mosquitoes do not just pierce the skin with their sharp proboscis, injecting a special liquid into the blood that prevents it from clotting, but fully control it, looking for capillaries. Only after the right capillary is found, the mosquito injects its saliva into it, which quite technically prevents our blood from clotting, and then begins to suck. By the way, this is why a mosquito bite is very itchy - the liquid causes irritation.
Why do mosquitoes die?
As a rule, at such moments we are absolutely not interested in why mosquitoes drink blood. Their saliva is their own enemy! No matter how paradoxical it may sound, but it is she who does not allow the insects to finish their work! When a mosquito drinks blood, its saliva, injected inside, causes itching, causing discomfort to a person … As a rule, the reaction follows immediately - we drive away the mosquito or even kill it.
As a result, a person is left with an itchy tumor, and the mosquito will not "dine", or even go to the forefathers! That's such an interesting "arithmetic", friends!
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