As many as 110 trillion mosquitoes exist in the world today. This works out to almost 16,000 mosquitoes per human!
The adult lives of mosquitoes are brief, rarely lasting more than 15 days. And female mosquitoes lay a clutch of 100-200 eggs every three days, laying as many as three sets of eggs before dying.
Without mosquitoes, plant growth could be affected. Wiping out mosquitoes would also wipe out a group of pollinators. Only some species feed on the blood of humans and animals, and even in those species, the females are the only ones sucking blood.
There is no limit to the number of mosquito bites one of the insects can inflict. A female mosquito will continue to bite and feed on blood until she is full. After they have consumed enough blood, the mosquito will rest for a couple of days (usually between two to three days) before laying her eggs.
Mosquitoes can take in anywhere from 0.001 to 0.01 milliliter of blood. For its size, that would be the equivalent of a person drinking as much as in a bathtub.
The average mosquito bite drains 0.01 to 0.001 milliliters of blood. Thus it would take somewhere between 200,000 and 2 million mosquito bites to kill you from blood loss.
In fact, a female mosquito can keep biting you and feeding on your blood until she is full. A blood-thirsty female can bite an unsuspecting victim up to five or six times a day. Here's the math: Common types of female mosquitoes weigh about 2 milligrams and can drink three times their weight in blood.
Your Feet Stink
The short answer as to why mosquitoes go after feet and ankles is that our feet often carry a strong odor. Yes, stinky feet attract mosquitoes.
Mosquitoes rest in dark, humid places like under sinks, in showers, in closets, under furniture, or in the laundry room. Mosquitoes entering your house from outdoors can start laying eggs indoors.
The first way to get rid of mosquitoes in a local area is to eliminate their breeding grounds. Mosquitoes require warm, standing water to lay their eggs and for their larvae to grow. So eliminating mosquitoes often starts with eliminating standing water.
Disruption of Food Chains
Without the mosquitoes, many animals could decline due to a lack of food. Fish populations could be impacted, as many fish species rely on mosquito larvae as a food source. Bats that rely largely on mosquitoes for food may also decline or even go extinct if mosquitoes did.
The eradication of mosquitoes might please humans in the short term, but would eventually damage many ecosystems due to a cascade of negative consequences as more and more species were affected. A better plan might be to eradicate the disease-causing parasites that use mosquitoes as a vector.
The Worst Places in the World for Mosquitoes
Brazil, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand have the highest number of mosquito species in the world. In terms of endemic species, the worst countries are Brazil, Indonesia, Australia, and the Philippines.
Male mosquitoes will live only 6 or 7 days on average, feeding primarily on plant nectar, and do not take blood meals. Females with an adequate food supply can live up to 5 months or longer, with the average female life span being about 6 weeks.
While these insects may die if you smack them when you feel a bite, there's no biological or anatomical reason they would die after feeding. In fact, these nuisance insects are capable of biting multiple times in a night. They'll keep going until they're full. So, you know that mosquitoes don't die after biting.
Wear long, loose clothing in light colors like white, cream, and tan to make yourself less of a mosquito target. Spray insect repellents like DEET or picaridin on your skin to keep mosquitoes away. Use unscented body wash and shampoo to smell less attractive to mosquitoes.
Mosquitoes are attracted to the smell of lactic acid, uric acid, ammonia and other substances your body releases when you sweat—all of which affect your body odor and can make you a more appetizing snack for mosquitoes.
Some mosquito species are leg and ankle biters; they cue into the stinky smell of bacteria on your feet. Other species prefer the head, neck and arms perhaps because of the warmth, smells emitted by your skin, and closeness to carbon dioxide released by your mouth.
People with fair skin usually have a stronger reaction to mosquito bites, however, the bites are simply more prominent. Therefore, fair-skinned people are not more attractive to mosquitoes.
Mosquito larvae live in stagnant pools of water, and adult mosquitoes hang out in weeds, tall grass, and bushes. These things are much more likely to be low to the ground, so the mosquitoes are closer to your legs and arms than your face.
02/7Mosquitoes bite you more when you sleep
This happens because they can sense the heat being produced by your body. Also, while sleeping our body produces a number of chemicals that mosquitoes like. They also disrupt our sleep by making a buzzing sound when they come near to us while we are sleeping.
Though they prefer direct access to blood, mosquitoes can bite through clothes if the fabric is thin and tight fitting. The pests' needle-like mouthparts pierce delicate cotton t-shirts with ease.
Only female mosquitoes bite. They need a blood meal to produce eggs. The female may bite 20 times before she finds a small blood vessel.
Mosquito bites may occur anytime during the day, at dusk or at night.