We all look forward to summer! How could you not, because it brings warm evenings, bare feet, romance, reading books on the beach and chilling with a cold beer. But every now and then tiny flying creatures remind us that it's not like that at all. Mosquitoes can really make the moments listed above bitter for us. Have you ever wondered in society why these bloodsuckers often prefer you to a human being next to them? Or vice versa? There are quite a few reasons for this.
1. Blood group. Mosquitoes are said to love blood type 0. They are twice as likely to bite people with this blood type than those with type B, and it is even better carried off by the 'owners' of type A.
2. Carbon dioxide. The maxillary palp is the organ through which a mosquito can smell a person's exhaled air at a distance of up to 50 m. Taller people generally exhale more air and thus attract more mosquitoes.
3. Metabolism. In addition to carbon dioxide, mosquitoes also have a good nose for lactic and uric acid and sweat. Sweatier people are said to be easier targets for mosquito bites.
4. Pregnancy. In the case of pregnant women, scientists found the reason for more mosquito bites to be the increased amount of carbon dioxide. Even the slightly higher body temperature of pregnant women is said to cause a greater attraction for mosquitoes.
5. Genes. Research involving monozygotic and fraternal twins has shown that genetics may also play a role in attractiveness to mosquitoes. Otherwise, the sample was a little too small to be able to confirm this with certainty, but everything points to the fact that a genetic mechanism is also responsible for this.
6. Color of clothes. Jonathan Day, a professor of entomology at the University of Florida, discovered that mosquitoes also supposedly recognize color. In the late afternoon, mosquitoes use their vision much better... and if you're wearing red, black or dark blue clothes, they'll give you a hard time.
7. Beer. Mosquitoes are supposed to like beer! No, you don't. When drinking beer, our body temperature rises slightly, and sweat also has a different smell due to ethanol, and this is probably enough for mosquitoes to feel invited.
8. Natural resistance. But are there also people who meet all the reasons listed so far, but mosquitoes still bypass them? Experts believe that some people are just lucky and secrete substances that act as a natural defense against stings.
9. Skin. The skin, our largest organ, is home to many bacteria that are attractive to mosquitoes in different ways. Well, not exactly the bacteria, but the smell they give off. Perhaps this is the reason why mosquitoes like to go to our ankles and feet, because there may be less bacteria due to the structure of the skin.
10. (Im)tidy garden. Mosquitoes love a dark, moist environment and uncut grass is a paradise for them. Make sure your garden is as tidy as possible and that your garden furniture is as far away as possible from plants that could provide a home for these nasty dipterans.
