2With their wings revving at 400 beats per second, mosquitoes can cruise at a speed of five kilometres per hour.
3Mosquitoes make frequent meals for fish, bats, birds, frogs, toads, beetles, and spiders.
4Mosquitoes find prey by honing in on wafts of carbon dioxide.
5There are 40,000 mosquitoes for every human being on earth.
6The Mosquito Ultrasonic Teenage Deterrent is a noisemaking device used in the United Kingdom to drive away loitering teenagers. The device annoys only teenagers by taking advantage of presbycusis, a form of age-related hearing loss in which high frequencies (18-20kHz) become inaudible to people over 20.
7Mosquitoes dislike citronella oil because it irritates their feet.
8It’s typical for a mother mosquito to feed and breed eight times in her lifetime. Feeding mosquitoes employ an anticoagulant to thin the blood and keep it flowing. It’s this anticoagulant that causes bites to be itchy.
10Ever a cultural mosaic, Canada is blessed with 74 different species of the pest.
11Mosquito larvae hatch in ponds of snowmelt in April and May across southern Canada, living off of decaying vegetation for up to four weeks before taking to the air as the trees bloom.
12In 300 B.C., Aristotle referred to mosquitoes as “empis” in his Historia Animalium where he documented their life cycle and metamorphic abilities.
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Based on Paul Theroux’s best-selling novel, The Mosquito Coastis the adventure story of how a family’s quest for paradise becomes a terrifying fight for survival. The Mosquito Coast (1986) stars Harrison Ford and follows eccentric inventor Allie Fox as he sells his house in the United States and moves his family to Central America to build an ice factory in the jungle. Mosquitoes turn out to be the least of Fox’s worries.
Gear: Oral Mosquito Repellant
At first we were skeptical; insect repellant in pill form? But after eating an all-natural Mozi-Q tablet we did seem slightly less desirable to the blackfly and mosquito population in buggy May. According to Mozi-Q, active ingredient Delphinium makes all sorts of insects, including head lice and bed bugs, less inclined to bite.
From the manufacturer: “Mozi-q is a formula containing five homeopathic remedies: Staphysagria, Ledum palustre, Urtica urens, Cedron and Grindelia. They are in low C and D potencies, thereby acting at the physical level for their common indication, to reduce the frequency and severity of insect bites.”
Would you try it?
$9.95-$24.95 | mozi-q.com
Gear Review: Thermacell Mosquito Repellant Lantern
This double-duty lantern will light up your dinner table and save you from becoming the main dish. Insert the butane canister, insect repellent cartridge and four AA batteries, and with the flick of a switch, you have up to four hours of protection from insects. Two settings allow you to change the intensity of the LEDs. Size and basic construction make it perfect for a dinner dockside and car camping.
$32 | thermacell.com
