An Eassay on Mosquitoes
An Eassay on Mosquitoes
by Danuska Błaszak
Do not kill mosquitoes.
Mosquitoes as God’s or Nature’s creatures deserve same respect we have to ourselves or to great number of species like elephants or white tigers. We did not create mosquitoes; therefore their lives are not ours to take back.
Mosquitoes are tiny insects with diaphanous wings that are found in almost every part of the world. The only ingredients necessary for their survival are water and blood. Water is necessary for reproduction. Mosquitoes must live in areas adjoining calm water in which they can lay their eggs. Blood is necessary as a source of protein. Mosquitoes are able to determine the location of a source of warm blood with amazing exactitude because the heat of a warm-blooded animal arouses them. Since the contrast between air temperature and body temperature is greater at night, they seek food after sunset and retreat to the cover of long grass or leaves by day. When they draw blood from their prey, they inject a chemical akin to that used by doctors to stop the blood from clotting (drying up). This chemical makes their bites itch with a vehemence that is surprising: how can such small things create such large swellings that itch for the ensuing several days. The female is the troublemaker. Male mosquitoes though exact facsimiles of the female to the human eye, differ from her in two important ways: they not bite, and they make a buzzing sound as they fly. So, regardless of the disturbing sound they make, they are harmless.
The mosquito population of the world continues to follow an upward slant. Because they have superb system for adapting, the have disseminated to almost every corner of the globe. Mosquitoes carry diseases that they sometimes pass on to the recipients of their bites through the chemicals they secrete during the process of obtaining blood. For this reason, as well as for others, people from all over the world have blended their efforts to kill off these little pests, but with little success. A coarse method such as spraying a poisonous gas into the air only works for a few days. Putting poison on the water is only temporarily successful – the mosquitoes simply develop a new breed that is not affected by the poison. Scientists have also tried releasing females that cannot lay eggs. The male mosquitoes cannot detect whether the females are sterile, so that they mate with them with no results. However, fertile female soon offset the small number of sterile ones, because of the number of offspring they are able to produce. Spraying chemicals to disorient the mosquitoes so that males and females cannot find each other has also been unsuccessful. No matter what approach the scientists use, the mosquitoes always find some way to insure their perpetuation.
Now I would like to speak about their miserable life mosquitoes live, due to us humans. As we can see from the preceding paragraphs, mosquitoes are not unusual creatures, and yet, they are being hunted mercilessly with single goal on mind: their extermination. It is true that they spread disease, but who tells how many mosquito bites ends up with sickness?
We humans need protein for our survival and procreation; too, contrary to the mosquitoes, we do kill our prey. In case of mosquitoes, killing their prey is incidental, contributed only to unintentional spreading disease. We spread multitude of diseases, too, usually equally unintentionally like for example AIDS or influenza, or quite purposely (Anthrax, to mention just one). However, in case of humans, our killing is always intentional, either as a goal of war, or as goal of our quest for food or just hunting excitement. At any time I would keep a bet that humans have killed much more beasts including cattle, or even mosquitoes, than mosquitoes have killed us, humans. On top of the above, we shall remember that while mosquitoes are frequent intruders in our homes, we humans are quite often intruders in the mosquitoes territory, wandering aimlessly through forests, roaming the lakes or inhabitating shores of the rivers.
Danuska Błaszak
by Danuska Błaszak
Do not kill mosquitoes.
Mosquitoes as God’s or Nature’s creatures deserve same respect we have to ourselves or to great number of species like elephants or white tigers. We did not create mosquitoes; therefore their lives are not ours to take back.
Mosquitoes are tiny insects with diaphanous wings that are found in almost every part of the world. The only ingredients necessary for their survival are water and blood. Water is necessary for reproduction. Mosquitoes must live in areas adjoining calm water in which they can lay their eggs. Blood is necessary as a source of protein. Mosquitoes are able to determine the location of a source of warm blood with amazing exactitude because the heat of a warm-blooded animal arouses them. Since the contrast between air temperature and body temperature is greater at night, they seek food after sunset and retreat to the cover of long grass or leaves by day. When they draw blood from their prey, they inject a chemical akin to that used by doctors to stop the blood from clotting (drying up). This chemical makes their bites itch with a vehemence that is surprising: how can such small things create such large swellings that itch for the ensuing several days. The female is the troublemaker. Male mosquitoes though exact facsimiles of the female to the human eye, differ from her in two important ways: they not bite, and they make a buzzing sound as they fly. So, regardless of the disturbing sound they make, they are harmless.
The mosquito population of the world continues to follow an upward slant. Because they have superb system for adapting, the have disseminated to almost every corner of the globe. Mosquitoes carry diseases that they sometimes pass on to the recipients of their bites through the chemicals they secrete during the process of obtaining blood. For this reason, as well as for others, people from all over the world have blended their efforts to kill off these little pests, but with little success. A coarse method such as spraying a poisonous gas into the air only works for a few days. Putting poison on the water is only temporarily successful – the mosquitoes simply develop a new breed that is not affected by the poison. Scientists have also tried releasing females that cannot lay eggs. The male mosquitoes cannot detect whether the females are sterile, so that they mate with them with no results. However, fertile female soon offset the small number of sterile ones, because of the number of offspring they are able to produce. Spraying chemicals to disorient the mosquitoes so that males and females cannot find each other has also been unsuccessful. No matter what approach the scientists use, the mosquitoes always find some way to insure their perpetuation.
Now I would like to speak about their miserable life mosquitoes live, due to us humans. As we can see from the preceding paragraphs, mosquitoes are not unusual creatures, and yet, they are being hunted mercilessly with single goal on mind: their extermination. It is true that they spread disease, but who tells how many mosquito bites ends up with sickness?
We humans need protein for our survival and procreation; too, contrary to the mosquitoes, we do kill our prey. In case of mosquitoes, killing their prey is incidental, contributed only to unintentional spreading disease. We spread multitude of diseases, too, usually equally unintentionally like for example AIDS or influenza, or quite purposely (Anthrax, to mention just one). However, in case of humans, our killing is always intentional, either as a goal of war, or as goal of our quest for food or just hunting excitement. At any time I would keep a bet that humans have killed much more beasts including cattle, or even mosquitoes, than mosquitoes have killed us, humans. On top of the above, we shall remember that while mosquitoes are frequent intruders in our homes, we humans are quite often intruders in the mosquitoes territory, wandering aimlessly through forests, roaming the lakes or inhabitating shores of the rivers.
Danuska Błaszak
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