Why do mosquitoes drink blood: what do mosquitoes do with blood?

It is a well-known fact that mosquitoes drink blood. That is why they are called bloodsuckers. They do not bring any benefit to either the person or the animal to which they are attached. But the point here is not only the insects’ own whim; they can do without it. So why do mosquitoes drink blood? The answer is simple - they need it to reproduce.

Why do mosquitoes drink blood?

With the onset of warm weather, the problem of bloodsuckers worries many and is felt especially acutely. Studying the insect's life cycle will not get rid of bites, but it will help to understand why mosquitoes drink the blood of warm-blooded animals.

According to research, only fertilized female mosquitoes attack humans or animals. For them, drinking blood is an effective way to certainly continue their race, which is explained by the presence of a sufficient amount of protein in plasma and red blood cells.

Having sated and received the necessary material for reproduction, the individual lays eggs. The more protein in the female’s blood, the larger and better quality her offspring will be.

This relationship explains why mosquitoes drink blood to the last and do not always fly away when trying to drive them away. With a sufficient amount of food, a female mosquito is capable of laying up to hundreds of eggs in one clutch for 2-4 days.

Some of the varieties of bloodsuckers (“autogenous”) are able to lay eggs without first drinking blood.

According to experts, there are several reasons for “bloodless” reproduction.:

• the influence of weather conditions on the gonotrophic cycle (the so-called process of nutrition and reproduction).
• Adaptation to environmental conditions.
• Lack of access to the necessary object to bite.

The life cycle of some mosquitoes can reach 10-12 months.

How parasites obtain blood

A mosquito is an insect with a yellow or gray body, 4 to 14 mm long, and transparent wings. Its abdomen is made up of 10 segments, and its paws are equipped with claws. The insect has a mouthparts with a proboscis, while the female has piercing setae. With its sharp jaws, the mosquito pierces a hole in the skin and sucks blood from it through its proboscis. To prevent the fluid from coagulating, the parasite injects an anticoagulant under the skin, which causes burning, itching and swelling.

In temperate climates, mosquitoes live from May to October. Some species hibernate, after wintering they lay eggs and live for another 2 months. Insects have four stages of development: egg, larva, pupa, adult. The first three stages live in water. The larvae (bloodworms) serve as food for fish.

At one time, the female lays from 30 to 150 eggs, in malaria mosquitoes - up to 280 eggs. Laying occurs once every 2-3 days. Female malaria mosquitoes make up to 12 clutches, more than all other mosquitoes. After a week, an adult insect emerges from the egg.

A new species of mosquito has appeared in megacities - the urban squeaking mosquito. These insects breed in damp basements of houses, where the larvae feed on decomposed organic matter. They make the first tab immediately after turning into an adult insect, without even drinking blood. After this, the bloodsuckers go into apartments to annoy people. In this way, urban mosquitoes maintain the population even if warm-blooded prey is not available.

How do mosquitoes drink blood?

Since only females need foreign blood, they are the ones who attack people and animals. Due to different diets, female and male individuals have different oral structures.

Physiological features that help the female drink blood:

• there are six sharp needles on the body.
• To pierce the skin, two of them are used, at the ends of which there are small teeth.
• To get to the blood vessels, the insect launches a kind of pump into the hole made - a very thin and flexible needle. With its help, the mosquito raises blood closer to the surface of the skin.
• The remaining needles are used as spacers to enlarge the hole.

Since the human body is able to quickly clot blood thanks to a certain enzyme, the mosquito needs to take additional measures to pump it out.

The main one is injecting your saliva into the wound, which acts as an anticoagulant. It facilitates the process of drinking blood by neutralizing the aforementioned enzyme, which allows the insect to be properly satisfied.

Please note: it is at this moment that a person feels an unpleasant burning sensation, which may subsequently result in an allergic reaction to the injected substance.

The mosquito’s “tools” are so thin and sharp that it is almost impossible to notice the bite at its very beginning. Usually a person feels discomfort already in the process of pumping out his blood.

Since the mosquito drinks blood to breed, the insect aims to obtain the maximum amount of building material for subsequent reproduction. If the bloodsucker's abdomen is full, it seeks to get rid of excess body fluid.

Danger of mosquitoes

Mosquitoes are carriers of serious diseases: malaria, yellow fever, dengue and others. In tropical countries, 2,000,000 people die each year from malaria alone. There are no dangerous mosquitoes in the middle zone, but parasite bites cause a lot of trouble: itching, irritation, allergies.

But no matter how harmful mosquitoes are, you should not wish for their complete destruction. They are part of the food chain, because mosquito larvae are the source of food for many fish, including commercial fish. Although some scientists fear that numerous mosquito repellents will reduce the number of these bloodsuckers, their fears are unfounded. Insects obtain the bulk of blood from animals.

Diet

The basis of mosquito diet is sugar. Regardless of gender and age, bloodsuckers feed on honeydew, plant sugar, and in rare cases they eat nectar. And if these components are sufficient for a male, then the blood of an animal or human is necessary for a female.

To replenish their resources, mosquitoes have chosen certain types of plants:

• yarrow.
• Tansy.
• Burdock.

It is known that plant foods often attract young, unfertilized individuals.

Ectoparasitism helps the female, after mating, acquire a sufficient level of protein to lay eggs. An individual mosquito is able to determine the presence of a prey at a distance of about 3 km by emitted heat, the smell of sweat, and carbon dioxide.

The maximum lifespan of a female is 56 days. The insect lives this period in the presence of two constant sources of nutrition - blood and plant matter.

For example, in a residential area, an insect is unlikely to find the necessary plant or nectar to replenish its energy reserves. Under these conditions, the duration of existence of a female individual decreases.

Types of bloodsuckers

Mosquitoes are found on all continents of the Earth except Antarctica. Their family includes about 3000 species. Some of them drink the blood of only one type of animal, others attack everyone they meet nearby. There are mosquitoes that drink frog blood and attack fish (mudskippers that come onto land). In the tropics there live insects that attack caterpillars and feed on their lymph. But the majority of bloodsuckers prefer warm-blooded animals: mammals and birds.

The most common mosquito in the world is the common mosquito, which drinks human blood. It spread across the globe thanks to people who transported mosquito larvae and eggs in the holds of ships and barrels of water during sea voyages.

The mosquito finds the victim with the help of two sensitive antennae that it has. It accurately determines the location of the power source by thermal radiation, carbon dioxide released and lactic acid contained in sweat.

A victim located in one place is literally shrouded in such a cloud, so mosquitoes are less likely to attack those who move. But you shouldn’t wave your arms and jump to disperse the parasites. In this case, the clouds of gas thicken, and mosquitoes rush from everywhere to the victim. Parasites also react to the smell of blood, so you should not scratch the bitten areas.

Have you had a drink? They'll have a bite!

Continuing the topic of odors, we can cite more scientific findings from Laura Harrington, Ph.D., professor at the Department of Entomology at Cornell University. She cites research conducted on the African continent and among indigenous Japanese people. In both cases, hordes of mosquitoes especially actively attacked those who were drinking. In Africa, the experiment was carried out on beer consumers, in Japan - on those who drank stronger alcohol. True, in this case, scientists have only such geographical features of focus groups and there is no risk in asserting that such conclusions can be disseminated on a planetary scale.

Who prefers the bloody menu

When asked which of the bloodsucker insects is a male or a female, scientists give a clear answer: “Look for a woman.” The reproduction of mosquitoes and the preservation of the species is its purpose. It is she who needs protein to lay eggs. And they look for victims exclusively before laying eggs, the rest of the time they are completely peaceful insects. For males, this possibility is not provided for by the creator at all. The structure of its proboscis allows it to drink pollen or plant sap in some individuals, but it cannot bite through human skin.

Breeding cycle

The mating season of insects begins 2–4 days after the pupa turns into an adult. After communication, the mosquito goes in search of squirrel. To do this, the pest uses antennae focused on the head. With their antennae, insects track:

• Heat generated.
• The aroma of sweat.
• Carbon dioxide released during exhalation.

Understanding how a squeaking mosquito drinks blood is not difficult. After all, many scientists have described this process in detail:

1. Once the victim is identified, the mosquito looks for a suitable place to bite. Mosquitoes do not gnaw on thick skin. Insects choose places with pulsating wreaths.
2. Next, the mosquito forms holes through its proboscis and releases special substances. The components present in saliva reduce the likelihood of clotting.
3. Determining that mosquitoes are full is problematic. After all, the insect eats until it gets completely drunk. The volume consumed by an insect at one time depends on how large its abdomen is.
4. Once mosquitoes are fed, they look for places to lay eggs.

Because mosquitoes are especially active in the summer, some people are afraid of them. Children often ask their parents how many mosquitoes it takes to drink all the blood of a person. To calculate everything correctly, you need to know:

1. How much lymph does the female consume?
2. How many liters of lymph are there in a person?

Scientists have also studied this issue. For a person to die from the loss of protein substance, it takes at least 199–200 thousand insects.

How Ronald Ross made a discovery

Ronald Ross was born into the family of a general in the British Indian Army.
In 1881, after studying in Britain, Ross returned to India for military service. However, this is where his scientific work began, which would change his life and save millions of others. While working as a military surgeon in Bengaluru, Ross examined the blood of malaria patients and studied the disease in depth. He believed that the cause of the disease was the accumulation of poisons in the blood, and not the spread of malaria through the air (this theory prevailed at that time). He wrote about his ideas in scientific articles.

Having met parasitologist Patrick Manson in England, he learns from him the theory that the disease can be transmitted through mosquito bites . But he could not prove his assumption. Ross, interested in this hypothesis, began to closely develop it.

So, in the summer of 1897, in the stomach of a mosquito, Ross saw large round cells that had grown to the wall. Inside them lay black granules with parasites inside - the same color as plasmodia in human red blood cells. It has now become clear who the ultimate owner of Plasmodium and the causative agent of malaria are. This is Anopheles , an insignificant mosquito, to which war was declared from that day on.

For his discovery, Ronald Ross received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1902 , the Albert Medal in 1923, and the Manson Medal in 1929. Thanks to Ross's work, the foundation was laid for further study of malaria with the aim of successfully combating it.

Ronald Rosscolazh 5.ua

Helpful Tips to Prevent Mosquito Bites

If your genetics make mosquitoes perceive you as their “favorite dish,” then you need to use simple bite prevention measures to camouflage yourself:

• Wear light-colored clothing when insects are a nuisance. Dark clothing attracts bloodsuckers.
• Try to move less if you are attacked by whole hordes of insects, since the CO2 released by your body is an identification factor that says that you are not a tree, but a living creature.
• If possible, try to choose the right time of day for your walks, as mosquitoes prefer to feed at dusk and dawn, when air humidity rises and the wind tends to subside.
• If you still decide to sit in your garden plot in the evening, then try to equip this place with a simple fan, since it is difficult for mosquitoes to fly even in light winds.
• You should not refuse to use repellents, of which there is currently a large selection. Choose the most effective one.
• Even if all measures do not bring results, then find someone who is “tastier” than you and stay close to him.

Timur Shapovalov

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Favorite treat, or suitable blood type

These little bloodsuckers, like all living creatures, have their own preferences. What kind of blood do mosquitoes love more than others?

Scientists conducted the following experiment. People were invited. They were then separated according to their blood type, and mosquitoes were released.

Most of the people who were bitten were people with the first blood group. Even one person could have several bites at once. As it turned out, all females love this group most of all, because the red blood cells in it have the smoothest surface. People in the second group were bitten a little less. The most unloved person is considered to be a person who has blood type IV.

Interesting fact: it’s not just blood type that attracts bloodsuckers. For example, it has been proven that they are also attracted to carbon dioxide.

It is because of this that these insects bite us at night. The smell of sweat also plays an important role in finding a victim. It has already been repeatedly proven that the more developed a person’s sweating is, the higher the chance that he will be bitten. Thus, escaping from a swarm of mosquitoes is unrealistic and you shouldn’t even try.