Johannesburg: ‘Curious Kids’ is a series for kids in which we ask experts to answer questions from kids. In this series, Niko (four), a resident of Diani, Kenya, asked what would happen if all the mosquitoes were eliminated from the world? Most of the people in the world hate mosquitoes very much. Personally, I don’t mind them – they don’t bite me, so I’m not that bothered by them, whereas most people can’t stand the itching and noise from mosquito bites.
I work on malaria research, so I also spend my time caring for and keeping them alive so that my colleagues and I can study about them. This is a serious and important task because mosquitoes are the most dangerous creatures in the world. No other animal is more responsible for the death of people than the mosquito. Mosquitoes spread many deadly diseases. So, wouldn’t it be better for the world if all these mosquitoes were gone?
Before knowing the answer to this question, it has to be understood that what are mosquitoes. Mosquitoes are actually a huge group of insects. Adult mosquitoes look completely different from baby mosquitoes called larvae. Unlike bees and wasps, adult mosquitoes have only two wings. Bees and wasps have four wings. There are many different types of biting flies. All of them need to take blood from other creatures – including humans – to be able to lay eggs. Although there are many types of flies in the world, including ‘horsefly’ and ‘sets fly’, mosquitoes are the most common and most numerous of them all.
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Mosquitoes are different types of insects. They have more than 3,500 species. All of them behave differently. Most are active at night, but some are also active during the day. People may not know that only female mosquitoes bite us, because they need our blood to lay eggs. Male mosquitoes drink a sweet sap made by plants to survive. If a female mosquito sucks the nectar of a person who is infected with some type of virus or is suffering from a parasitic disease like malaria, then the person she bites later can also get the disease.
Of all these mosquito species, only about 40 female mosquitoes are really dangerous because they can spread diseases that people can suffer from. Therefore, out of all the mosquitoes in the world, there are very few mosquitoes that are really dangerous. The problem is that some of these mosquitoes spread many dangerous diseases like malaria. If these mosquitoes that spread malaria are eliminated, then the world will be much healthier.
It may seem like it would be better for all of us if the mosquitoes disappeared. But it is not, because mosquitoes serve an important purpose. Mosquitoes are food for many animals. For example, baby mosquitoes live in water and are the favorite food of ‘mosquito fish’. Frogs, moths, ants, spiders, lizards, bats and some other insects and animals also eat mosquitoes. If all the mosquitoes were gone, many animals would starve. (agency)