Bug Facts - Mosquitos - You are in your backyard enjoying the sun and grilling dinner. Ouch! You look down at your arm and see a painful, swelling mosquito bite. How do they always more...
You're in your backyard enjoying the sun and grilling dinner. Ouch! You look down at your arm and see a painful, swelling mosquito bite.“How do they always find me?” you ask.
Mosquitoes have sensors to help track their prey, including:
·Chemical sensors - Mosquitoes can sense carbon dioxide and lactic acid up to 100 feet away. Mammals and birds gives off these gases as part of their normal breathing. Chemicals in sweat also attract mosquitoes (so, if you don't sweat much, you won’t get bit as much).
·Visual sensors – If you wear clothing that contrasts with the background, and if you move at the same time, mosquitoes can zoom in on you. Their strategy is that anything moving is alive and full of blood, and it works!
·Heat sensors - Mosquitoes can detect heat, so they can find warm-blooded animals very easily once they get close enough.
Most of us can’t stop breathing, moving or generating heat, so mosquitoes can easily find us!
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