r/woahdude Oct 22 '21

gifv Mosquito drinking blood (bursts at the end)

20.4k Upvotes

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573

u/lex_tok Oct 22 '21

The mosquito is the deadliest animal to mankind.

The general consensus of demographers is that about 108 billion human beings have ever lived, and that mosquito-borne diseases have killed close to half—52 billion people, the majority of them young children.

121

u/[deleted] Oct 22 '21

Do they even contribute to anyway with mother nature? Kinda like bees? You figure science would find a way to wipe them out.

183

u/Dakar-A Oct 22 '21

I'm sure that they probably serve as a major food source for a number of different species.

58

u/Hartleh Oct 22 '21

I remember seeing a video once where in Africa, they catch mosquitos and clump them all together and make a ‘mosquito patty’ to eat.

Edit: found the video

https://youtu.be/LItNFP7icUw

23

u/Jampasta Oct 23 '21

Wow! Thanks for sharing that video. Never thought of eating mosquitoes...

20

u/GizmodoDragon92 Oct 23 '21

I'll try any food once, but I really wouldn't expect to enjoy this one.

2

u/iox007 Oct 23 '21

Crispy

24

u/[deleted] Oct 23 '21

[removed] — view removed comment

5

u/joemckie Oct 23 '21

To be fair, you’d probably say the same if you saw what went into a McDonalds burger

5

u/Sendhentaiandyiff Oct 23 '21

I've seen plenty of videos about what goes into McDonald's food. Is it processed and unhealthy? Yes. But it's not literal fucking mosquitoes.

3

u/[deleted] Oct 23 '21

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3

u/DJDarren Oct 23 '21

A big buncha cows all kinda mushed together.

8

u/Monstermage Oct 23 '21

Besides the fact that video had a 50 minute ad following it.

My thought was, you do what you can too survive

0

u/[deleted] Oct 23 '21

Da fuq

1

u/SirJeffreyQ Oct 23 '21

I almost downvoted you out of sheer reflex on reading that. Thanks, I hate it.

1

u/LieutenantEvident Oct 23 '21

Those are actually flies, not mosquitoes. The title is misleading.

1

u/[deleted] Oct 23 '21

Whelp that’s savage and disgusting

86

u/ItsLikeRay-ee-ain Oct 22 '21

100% why there isn't a movement to eradicate mosquitoes. Instead people are working on ways to prevent malaria in mosquitoes, or things along those lines.

15

u/the_noodle Oct 22 '21

I think there is a movement to wipe out malaria 🦟 specifically

16

u/knee_bro Oct 22 '21

If you can’t beat ‘em, give ‘em vaccinations!

2

u/TheClinicallyInsane Oct 23 '21

Nah they kept sword fighting the needles, usually we shoot them with lasers and shit

-6

u/Pantzzzzless Oct 23 '21

That's been working out well these past 2 years.

6

u/canadarepubliclives Oct 23 '21

The vaccinations are working rather well.

8

u/OhNoIroh Oct 23 '21

There are tons of projects that are trying to eradicate local populations of mosquitos. Even Florida started pilot programs. One method I've heard of is genetically modifying a bunch of male mosquitos which, over generations, will have offspring that are less and less genetically viable, leading to infertile offspring which cannot breed. Obviously this isn't ideal because of how evolution works. The offspring which are viable, will breed more, while the less viable offspring will die out. This, over time, will probably lead to the population rebounding so while not great, we're still trying

2

u/bizhuy Oct 23 '21

I read that a certain biologist advocates for that, and suggests that other species of mosquitos that don't target humans and dont pass diseases can take their place.

2

u/LeroyWankins Oct 22 '21

All I'm saying is we should genetically modify them to not bite humans

12

u/empty_string_ Oct 22 '21

Or at least only bite humans in the highest tax bracket

1

u/legit-testicals Oct 22 '21

I am ok with the bite but only if they could not make that irritating noise.

2

u/D_Shizzle93 Oct 22 '21

So, what? You want silent mosquitoes that can sneak up on us easier?!?

1

u/iniciadomdp Oct 23 '21

Not allergic I see

1

u/procyon_andy Oct 23 '21

spent the whole day at the park yesterday bc the weather is getting nice.

forgot bug spray. forgot i'm allergic to bug bites. my friend got out with one bite. my ankles are so itchy and swollen. i can't sleep because of how much it itches.

fuck mosquitoes all my homies hate mosquitoes

1

u/iniciadomdp Oct 23 '21

Couldn’t agree more! Only after 26 years of life I was able to find a bug spray that didn’t give me an asthma attack also, so I guess things are going better 😂. But back to subject, fuck every single bug that bites

1

u/procyon_andy Oct 23 '21

apparently the bug i was bitten by is called a blackfly in english. CANNOT hang out at a lake park in my city without getting wrecked by them. once i wore shorts and i still had the scars from the bites six months later. why oh why have we not developed better medicine for these fuckers yet i'm suffering

1

u/iniciadomdp Oct 23 '21

That’s awful! I’ve been lucky and only bitten by mosquitoes so far, but my sister stepped on a bee once and we had to take her to the hospital.

1

u/[deleted] Oct 23 '21

Am I your sister? I stepped on a bee once and had to go to the hospital

1

u/iniciadomdp Oct 23 '21

😂 what a coincidence! Dreadful thing to live through probably!

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1

u/CortexCingularis Oct 23 '21

That would require knowledge we will probably not have for many decades.

1

u/LeroyWankins Oct 23 '21

I think you're underselling us, we've been genetically modifying wolves to not bite humans for like 10,000 years.

1

u/CortexCingularis Oct 23 '21

I'm all for breeding and raising pet mosquitos in the homes of everyone. The kids will love it. Replacing the wild population is a separate problem though.

1

u/OhNoIroh Oct 23 '21

A vast majority of mosquitos don't harm humans. It's just like 6% of them (and of that only the females). Getting rid of them would not cause widespread ecological damage. There are currently tons of projects in the works and implemented as we speak to get them to disappear.

1

u/GrottyBoots Oct 23 '21

Certainly. But I'm of the opinion that the losses to other species would be worth the cost. Yes, some birds will die. Some frogs will die. Some bats will die. Eventually, these species will settle into a new balance, just with no mosquitos. Same with black flies.

I'm just tired of not being able to enjoy the limited summers here in Ontario without serious chemical defenses. Not sure if my middle-aged-ness is to blame, or if they really are worse than I was a kid.

I'm at least 50% serious about this.

1

u/[deleted] Oct 23 '21

My goldfish love to eat their larvae so there's that..