为什么蚊子咬我?(What Attracts Them?)

幼虫

The mosquito hatchlings are called larva. They swim through the water by wiggling, earning them their common name: wigglers.

它们是水生空气呼吸器，这意味着它们必须像海豚或鲸鱼一样表面来呼吸空气。他们吃藻类，浮渣和细菌。他们经历了几个称为Instars的增长阶段，在每个阶段变得更大。

Read Also:How to kill mosquito larvae?

蛹

After four to five days they enter their final instar as a pupae. In this stage, they resemble a miniature shrimp.

他们不吃，因为他们处于转变为翅膀的成年人的过程中。相反，他们将所有的时间全都花在水中通过水来避免掠夺者。

Adult

Here is where it gets interesting. Seven to 10 days after the eggs are laid, a fully formed adult emerges from the water and flies off. The males live less than a week, sometimes only two or three days.

They only eat nectar from plants, sugary liquids, or sweet liquids from fruits. They mate with a nearby female and that’s the end of their usefulness. Soon after, they die.

The female also eats nectar and other sweet liquids, the same as the male. After mating though, she needs liquid protein in order to produce her eggs.蚊子没有牙齿和下巴to chew their food so the only way she can get protein is to drink it by sucking the blood of birds and mammals.

After a blood meal, she’ll rest for several days until she produces a batch of eggs. She’ll lay them in a stagnant pond then go hunting for another blood meal.

Since a female mosquito can live for three to four weeks or more under optimum conditions, she can easily lay over 1000 eggs during her lifetime from that single mating.

Why Do Mosquitoes Bite Some People But Not Others?

Mosquitoes are no different than any other predator. There are certain things they’re looking for in their prey. If you meet their conditions they’re going to come gunning for you. If you don’t, they’ll ignore you in search of someone else.

Mosquitoes make their choices based on a number of different factors. Scientists are still working to discover what all of them are but they’ve identified some.他们已经确定的那些are:

• Beer
• Blood Type
• Carbon Dioxide
• 服装颜色
• Exercise and Metabolism (Heat and Sweat)
• Pregnancy
• 皮肤细菌

We’ll look at the blood types first since this is the chief determinate for attracting mosquitoes, then briefly cover each of the other items one by one.

What Blood Type Do Mosquitoes Prefer?

Mosquitoes need to drink blood in order to acquire the proteins necessary to produce their eggs, so it stands to reason they’d be a little picky about the type of blood they drink.

Research shows they have a natural tendency to be attracted to people with Type O blood. Mosquitoes are twice as吸引了o血液types as they are to Type A blood types, with Type B blood types falling somewhere in the middle.

蚊子按以下顺序更喜欢血液类型：

1. Type O
2. B型
3. 类型A.

Additionally, researchers have discovered that about 85% of people secrete a chemical through their skin that signals what kind of blood type they have. The other 15% of people don’t secrete that chemical. Whether or not people secrete the chemical signal is completely divorced from what blood type they have.

For instance, a person with Type O blood that mosquitoes love, may not secrete the chemical signal so mosquitoes will ignore them, while a person with Type A blood may secrete the signal.

Even though Type A is the mosquitoes least favorite blood type, if that’s what is available, that’s what they’ll drink. So, in our hypothetical scenario, the Type A blood type person will be bitten while the Type O blood type person will be untouched.

It’s just not fair.

Read Also:What's the best way to use mosquito traps?

Why Are Mosquitoes Biting You?

Let’s take a quick look at the other reasons mosquitoes will be drawn to one person over another.

Beer

Researchers still haven’t pinned down exactly why drinking beer attracts mosquitoes to a person. But all else being equal, drinking a single 12-ounce bottle of beer will make you far more attractive to mosquitoes than someone who doesn’t drink any. If you ever uncover the reason for it, the Smithsonian would like to talk to you.

Carbon Dioxide

One of the main ways mosquitoes finds their prey is by靶向二氧化碳在呼吸。他们可以将其从超过160英尺的距离距离。一个人越大，他们呼气的二氧化碳越多，因此它更有可能是蚊子被吸引。

服装颜色

Jonathan Day, a professor of medical entomology at the University of Florida, reports that dark-colored clothing stands out in a mosquito’s visual range, particularly when the person wearing those colors is moving. Black, blue, and red are the predominant colors that attract mosquitoes.

Exercise and Metabolism (Heat and Sweat)

Lactic acid, which is given off when you’re exercising also attracts mosquitoes. Acetone, a chemical released in your breath when you’re exercising does the same thing, as does estradiol, an estrogen byproduct. Your body heat increases when you’re exercising, which also draws in the mosquitoes. Runners beware!

Pregnancy

Sorry, ladies. When you’re pregnant, your abdomen averages over one-and-a-quarter degrees hotter than the rest of your body. You also exhale more carbon dioxide because you’re breathing for two people. The result is that pregnant women get bitten about twice as often as other people.

皮肤细菌

A2011 research studyfound that bacteria on your skin will convert non-volatile compounds in your sweat into volatile ones that are highly attractive to mosquitoes. Every person has slightly different amounts of skin bacteria as well as different types of skin bacteria.

这种类型和数量将显着影响您的汗水化合物的变化以及它们将有多吸引到蚊子中。这意味着两个违背否则的人可以并排站立，一个人会被蚊子吃掉，而另一个是不受影响的。

Some of these items are ones you don’t have any control over, but some of them you do. If you like to run, do it in the morning before the mosquitoes are active. Wear light-colored clothing and lay off the beer.

减肥。记住，你越越大，你呼气的二氧化碳越多。随着减肥，您的体重将随着所需的氧气量而减少。较少的氧气呼吸意味着较少的二氧化碳呼吸。减肥，吸引蚊子会有更少的人。QED。

What are some preventative measures?

• Spray on insect repellents that containde在避开蚊子时非常有效。它是由美国军队于1946年制定的，以保护蚊虫侵害领域的士兵，并已被证明是安全的，有效。
• Tiki torchesand candles with citronella are proven methods of driving mosquitoes away. As long as the flame is burning it will continue to release citronella into the air to protect you.
• Usemosquito dunksto kill larva in the water. Each doughnut-shaped dunk will treat about 100 square feet of water without harming any fish or wildlife. No larva, no mosquitoes flying around your head.
• Essential oils如薰衣草，柠檬桉树和茶树油是有效的，全自然的方法是劝阻蚊子并将它们远离你。还有一些repellent braceletsthat are wearable means of warding off mosquitoes.

决赛：蚊子咬优先

Mosquitoes are naturally attracted to some people more than others. Some of those reasons are beyond your control.

其他人是你可以很容易地改变的人。您也可以采取一些积极主动的步骤来保持蚊子远离您，所以您仍然可以享受夏季天气。