Interesting Facts

Ports in the UK are on alert for the Asian tiger mosquito. (This species of mosquito can transmit up to 23 infections - including West Nile virus and dengue fever. It is not native to the UK, and is believed to have stowed away in used tyres being shipped from the Far East to the UK for retreading. It is slightly bigger than a native mosquito, and has distinctive black and white stripes.  With another report that there are 800,000 illegal immigrants currently living in the UK, I don't think the port authorities will have much luck stopping illegal mosquitoes.)

According to the American Mosquito Control Association, mosquitoes can only fly at between 1 to 1.5 miles an hour. (Seemingly air is like treacle to them, due to their size. I don't understand.  If they are so slow, how come they are so difficult to swat?)

20th August World Mosquito Day! Bzzzzzzz....

Male mosquitoes don't bite. (Both male and female mosquitoes drink nectar for energy, and the female mosquito is thought to need to feed on blood in order to obtain the necessary protein for eggs to develop. So, the female of the species really is deadlier than the male.)

Fish are being used to control malaria in India with remarkable success. (They introduce species of fish that like eating mosquito larvae into the kind of ponds, rivers and wells where mosquitoes lay their eggs. The eggs hatch, and the fish eat the larvae. The mosquitoes which transmit malaria have virtually been eradicated from some areas and according to scientists who presented the results of these pilot projects at the Indian Science Congress in Chandigarh, the number of malaria cases each year in India is falling.)

The name mosquito is Spanish for “little fly”. (I wonder what Spanish for "annoying little blood sucker" is?)

The most dangerous animal on the planet is the mosquito. (The deadly disease malaria is carried by mosquitoes. This disease causes more than 300 million acute illnesses each year and over a million deaths annually.)

Mosquitoes have a sweet tooth. A Hebrew University team was able to devastate a local mosquito population by spraying acacia trees with a sugar solution spiked with an insecticide. Source - BBC News (I have a question though. Why did Noah let mosquitoes onto the ark?)

The Asian Tiger mosquito lays up to 300 eggs at a time and one female can average 1,000 to 3,000 offspring during her lifetime. (It must get hectic around Christmas.)

New research has revealed that Alexander the Great was killed by a mosquito. (Ah how the mighty are fallen.)

At one 'feeding', a mosquito can absorb one and a half times its own weight in blood. (Thank goodness they are only small!)