I heard an interesting piece on NPR this morning praising the bane of summer picnics and camping trips (and source of destructive plagues and epidemics throughout human history), the mosquito.According to the radio piece, an interview with nature writer David Quammen, half of all mosquitoes are harmless to humans (male mosquitoes are content to pursue females for sex, while females are the bloodsuckers). Females are such voracious suckers of blood because during their lifetimes, they will lay some 2,000 eggs, requiring vast amounts of protein which come from animal (including human) blood.
In addition,
Have you ever wondered why, even into the 21st century, there are still large tracts of equatorial rainforest that have somehow survived human exploitation?
Who or what has defended those last outposts of ferns, butterflies, beetles and ants from humankind?
Quammen says while there may be many explanations, certainly the lady mosquito deserves credit. Every time human settlers stepped into those areas in serious numbers, they got bit, then they got sick, and then, until very recently, most of them backed off.
In other words, the lowly mosquito serves as a check on human destruction of the global ecosystem, preserving those vital rainforests from being wiped out by human activity. As my high school biology teacher liked to say, what is good for humans is usually bad for the ecosystem/environment.
In the radio piece, Quammen also talks about a German old wives' remedy for mosquito bites, having a pig sleep in the same room. Female mosquitoes are naturally attuned to the best sources for blood, indicated by an elevated body temperature. Because the pig has a higher body temperature, the mosquitoes would aim straight for the pig, leaving the humans alone. Which helps to explain why certain people (like me) seem to be such a favored target for mosquitoes.
Although it doesn't lead to a obvious remedy, it's nice to understand a little more about how the world around us works while we suffer the mosquito's biological makeup.
