I often wondered what senses mosquitoes posses for them to find me even in the dark. Surely they must have an upper hand and aren’t just flying into us on accident. I spent some time trying to research this and is what I found.
Mosquitoes are attracted to humans for a variety of the reasons. It is not only visual. They can sense the carbon dioxide on you, they can sense the heat coming off your body and all these abilities make them very capable of finding a suitable feeding ground easily. They use all these abilities to map out the path to the next meal.
Only females feed on the blood of humans and other animals as they need it at the reproduction stage. They need the proteins in blood for the production of eggs. They are a serious concern for humans as they can carry and spread very dangerous infectious diseases such as yellow fever, malaria and dengue virus. DEET is a chemical compound that confuses the chemical receptors of mosquitoes, making them almost impossible to find you.
Can mosquitoes see in the dark?
No they can’t see in the dark. Mosquitoes have compound eyes on each side of the head. Each eye has hundreds of small lenses which make seeing easier, this also allows mosquitoes to see from a variety of directions at one time. When the mosquito is 16 – 30 feet away from the host they can start to see them.
Even with these compound eyes mosquitoes do not see as well as humans and other vertebrae. That is why they need more than one technique to track down there next host
When you’re wearing clothing that contrasts with your background mosquitoes have a higher chance of finding you (even though their eyesight is not the best) this is especially true if you’re moving while wearing this clothing. As they know that anything that moves is probably alive. They will zone in on this object looking for the blood vessels.
Detect your CO2
Mosquitoes can detect their host from as far as 30 to 160 feet away. They are attracted to the carbon dioxide gas which we exhale
If you’re trying to avoid them it’s not enough to try to hold your breath in an attempt to prevent mosquitoes from coming, even if someone else is breathing nearby or is several feet upwind this amount of CO2 can lead mosquitoes close enough to you that they can lock onto your signature.
To test if mosquitoes are attracted to the CO2 on your breath scientists performed an experiment. They put a dark object on the floor and released carbon dioxide from it, they found that mosquitoes flocked to it. In another experiment where they left the dark object on the floor but did not release CO2 from it the mosquitoes ignored the object. The receptor that can detect carbon dioxide can also detects odors.
Heat
Mosquitoes can sense your body heat from about 7 inches away. In addition they are evolved enough to not overshoot when looking for our body heat. They will not go near something too hot but will be attracted to your warm skin.
It is assumed that they have cells on their antennas which are sensitive to heat and can feel heat in the area. There is a protein in the cells that’s able to respond to heat, when heat is present the cells transmit a signal to the brain letting the mosquito l know a warm body is around
This is why it is easy for them to detect warm blooded animals such as birds and mammals. They have a preference towards warm objects even though it might not present CO2
Biting you
You probably won’t even feel a mosquito biting you, it is not necessarily a bite
A mosquito doesn’t necessarily bite you as it doesn’t have teeth. Rather the female mosquito uses the tip of her long straw like mouth to create a puncture in your skin to get to your bloodstream. It releases saliva into your bloodstream and then sucks your blood. The saliva has an enzyme in it, the saliva is released into our blood at the puncture. After 6 seconds a reaction occurs which prevents blood clotting making it easier for the blood to get sucked up
The body recognizes the saliva of the mosquito as something foreign and releases an immune response in attempt to get rid of the saliva. When you start to swell around the bite it is caused by a histamine increasing blood flow around the area, the white blood cell count increases. Visually this looks like swelling, it itches because the histamine around the bites send signals to the nerves
Some lucky people do not react when being stung by a mosquito as some people’s genes have made them adaptable to the saliva.
Note: Try to avoid scratching as this might make the situation worse by increasing itching and increasing the chances of you breaking the skin. If you break your skin this can result in an infection and will take long to heal
Biting in the dark
Mosquitoes bite us more in the dark as that is when we’re easier targets. We are less likely to see and hear mosquitoes if they come out and bite in the dark. We also won’t realize we’ve been bitten. Mosquitoes take this all into account, they are nocturnal, feeding when they know we are sleeping and motionless.
We release more carbon dioxide, when we sleep, which attracts mosquitoes to us. They also feed and prey on us as food sources in the night time or the early mornings because the mornings are too hot for them to actively seek food. At this time we can find them resting in cool places such as pools and water bodies.
What to do about it?
DEET is usually used as an insect repellent as it is able to confuse the chemical receptors that help mosquitoes find their way to us. Unfortunately it poses some health risks to humans such as rashes, redness, skin irritation, vomiting, nausea, and very rarely seizures.
Previously products made to stop mosquito receptors from detecting carbon dioxide existed but these products can’t be used around people because they either have a very unpleasant odor and or have very serious health concerns.
There are various natural and chemical repellents that are available online or in stores. These prevent mosquitoes from biting you and a variety of them are able to deter them from your clothes and your belongings.
Prevention
- You can stay indoors during the night-time from dusk to dawn when mosquitoes aren’t too frequent
- Mosquitoes love to relax close to ponds or water bodies especially in shaded areas, try to avoid these areas as much as possible. If you want to know why mosquitoes need water so much, click this link.
- Wear clothes that cover your skin but do not wear tight clothes as mosquitoes can break through the fabric, even denim
- Use a natural, homemade or commercial insect repellent if you will be traveling to a mosquito riddled area of you have mosquitoes on your property
Treatments
- You can apply ice to the affected area to reduce swelling and pain
- There are a variety of over-the-counter as well as online lotions that can be used to treat the area
- Soap and water can clean a blister if you have scratched it too much and punctured it
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