Do Mosquitoes
prefer Mexican Food?
A
little family joke we have is that “mosquitoes prefer Mexican food.” This came
about over years of observable differences in the amount and the intensity of
mosquito attacks that I would endure while my esposa smugly stood by seemingly invisible to the little blood
suckers.
One
instance painfully stands out in my memory. We had just moved to Washington
from California, 25 years ago, and were exploring all the cool outdoorsy places
in the vicinity (this was before niños.)
While hiking in one of the many areas within Mount Rainier National Park, we
came into a particular meadow that was swarming with mosquitoes—flimsy little
brown kamikazes that instantly were attracted to me. This was before we knew
the necessity of DEET in the Pacific Northwest. Unprepared to chemically fend
off the cloud of parasites, we had no choice but to run, which we did for about
a quarter mile. When we surveyed our bodies for damage, my skin was decorated
with at least twelve little reddening bumps while Lori had…..ninguno! Why was she immune? Or was I just all the more appealing? My
wife, la güera, is of German descent,
so we concurred that mosquitoes prefer chile
verde to Sauerkraut, ja ja.
Last
week, during the last vestiges of summer vacation, Lori called me out to the
backyard patio one evening. The sun was setting, the air was pleasant, and she
was having dinner at the patio table. I warned her that the mosquitoes were
out, but she insisted I join her. Well, it was tolerable. She had an anti-bug
candle burning, and nothing actually bit me. But I did get those annoying
little buzzes right in my ear—the type that make you actually slap your ear.
Meanwhile, Lori sat completely unbothered.
As
a biologist I can’t help but wonder why mosquitoes are not universal in their
preferences. Are there truly different chemical signals that people give off
that make them more or less appealing?
Do these differences correspond to ethnic groups? Without wanting to get
too serious about researching this topic, I turned to that relatively recent
demigod of wisdom: YouTube. I found a funny little video, presented by BBC
journalist James May, that illuminated reasons why mosquitos seek the sangre of some people more than others.
It
turns out that blood type is one factor. People with Type O are up to 24% more
attractive to mosquitoes than others. My mujer
is Type A (in more ways than one, ja ja),
and so when given the choice, the lovely little flying syringes gravitate
towards me: the universal donor.
Palabras
Profundas
Mosquito
The
name of our villain is itself a Latin derivative. Mosca is the Spanish word for “fly” (as in those pesky little
flying insects), and “mosquito” is the diminutive form. It literally means
“little gnat.” Not surprisingly, “mosquito” is an English/Spanish cognate.
Sangre
This
lovely word means “blood.” And it’s related to sangria, one of my favorite drinks at Azteca®. The Latin root of
this bloody word finds itself distributed throughout the English lexicon. Even
in biology, the term “sanguivore” turns up—as a drinker of blood. That would
include vampire bats, leeches, and those female (p***a) mosquitoes.
Linkos
This
humorous and informative video by James May gives some scientific reasons as to
why some people are more prone to getting bit by mosquitoes than others.
No comments:
Post a Comment