How Can Mosquitoes Fly in the Wind?
WouterHaving a fan in your home can protect you from mosquitoes and other airborne pests. When your fan is turned on, it creates a strong breeze. This breeze can disrupt the carbon dioxide plumes that mosquitoes use to attract their prey.
Although flies may take shelter in the wind, most species are not strong flyers. They cannot fly faster than three miles per hour. They also do not have large wing flaps like butterflies. However, they are capable of flying up to seven miles from their breeding grounds.
According to Hu DL, a mosquito biologist at Michigan State University, most mosquito species prefer to breed in taller structures. Some of them, such as the malaria-carrying Simulium damnosum Theobald, 1903, can travel hundreds of kilometers in a single night. They are also known to travel long distances in the search for blood meal hosts.
Female mosquitoes can locate their blood meal host by detecting odors and heat. They can also detect carbon dioxide in the air, which is released when humans breathe. They can also sense temperature changes in their host, such as when a person gets sweaty.
In addition to carbon dioxide, a person’s body also releases lactic acid when he or she sweats. The lactic acid attracts mosquitoes, as does the sweat that they release when they breathe.
Scientists have long been interested in why some mosquitoes have the ability to travel long distances in the wind. One new study suggests that a wind gust may be carrying millions of disease-spreading mosquitoes around the world.
