Mosquitoes, yes flirtatious!

1999/09/19 Kortabarria Olabarria, Beñardo - Elhuyar Zientzia

• Biologia
• Zoologia

They appear with heat and hide with cold. This is one of the most striking features of mosquitoes. Another? pinchan. And not in any way. After analyzing what they have in front, they choose what can be the best for them and sting them. Redness, itching and pain are the most common sensations after puncture; the most unusual, especially in case of allergy, are the chills and the heating.

Mosquitoes distinguish the flavor, so some people attack others while they are despised. Consequently, while the rest is calm, the figure of the poor who receives all the points is normal if they are in family or in company. Many times they are heard, phrases like "these touch me only" or "they don't touch me"; and more often, if necessary, "you will have sweet blood because everyone goes to you." Now researchers at the University of Florida have come to check what you could imagine through listening or affirming that mosquitoes are capable of distinguishing flavors.

According to the university entologist, Jerry Butler, if a group of ten people meet, there will always be someone who will suffer more mosquito bites than the rest. According to the researcher, if in the history of evolution mosquitoes have been able to last millions of years, one of the most important reasons would be their ability to separate fresh blood well.

To make the distinction, mosquitoes first use smell. The carbon dioxide that is generated every time we breathe lightly and other odour substances pass into the ambient air. This air moves and moves away. Even if it was 50 kilometers away, mosquitoes would be able to smell. When mosquitoes smell the air, they say they do it immediately, they know that the smell is a source of food. To reach the source of the smell follow the air current in zig-zag. In addition to arrival and smell, they use sight, and together with them, the detection of heat in the surrounding bodies. Mosquitoes, once considered these three variables, decide to make one sting or another.

In addition to explaining how they feed, researchers at the University of Florida have identified some of the criteria followed by mosquitoes in the victim's choice. Among all the options, mosquitoes always select people or animals with signs of the most attractive substances. These substances are very different. They can be natural substances that are produced by the body itself and that are expelled through the skin; or products created artificially by the human being itself, such as cosmetics; and can even be the sweat that is collected in the body (as is known, in the sweat are collected bacteria that are very attractive for mosquitoes).

Like the substances that make your own body attractive to mosquitoes, there are also substances that disappoint them, such as drugs used to fight cholesterol or hypertension. Mosquitoes necessarily need cholesterol and vitamin B, but they are not able to produce by themselves, so people rich in both cholesterol and vitamin B have a high estimate.

In addition to being sharp, mosquitoes can be drivers of disease, but in general less than is believed. According to Butler, only a thousand mosquitoes carry organisms that can cause disease. However, although the proportion is low, it is evident that if a pathway is detected to reduce the number of bites, the chances of getting sick will decrease.

Researchers at the University of Florida have also explained more curiosities about the pinchazos of mosquitos, such as the place of the bite. Mosquitoes do not puncture anyway, they say they know how human reaction is and, therefore, choose the most appropriate place for the puncture, which can hardly reach the human being under the blow. After selecting the safest place possible, they perform the work quickly, with a maximum puncture of 8-10 seconds. To realize it, it is usually done the job, and the mosquito far from us, fills the gut.

As if it were not enough, mosquitoes are also flirtatious. And it is that when the place is selected and it is posed it is not started to work immediately. First they taste the place chosen with their mouth until they find their favorite point. At the height of its destiny, the sting enters with force and moves quickly in several angles until they meet with the capillary to take food. The process is short but not instantaneous. Do not think we have any defensive option.

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