 New link in the top of page "IRC Chat". |
| Register | Login | |||||
 |
Main
| Memberlist
| Active users
| Calendar
| Last Posts
| IRC Chat
| Online users Ranks | FAQ | XPW | Stats | Color Chart | Photo album |
|
| | ||
New link in the top of page "IRC Chat". |
| Register | Login | |||||
|
Main
| Memberlist
| Active users
| Calendar
| Last Posts
| IRC Chat
| Online users Ranks | FAQ | XPW | Stats | Color Chart | Photo album |
|
| | ||
| 0 users currently in General Chat. |
| Xeogaming Forums - General Chat - Twenty Things You Didn't Know.... About Mosquitos |
 |  |  |
| Next newer thread | Next older thread |
| User | Post | ||
Cyro Xero Rune Mage  Rave Atom          Since: 02-23-05 From: Minnesota!! Since last post: 53 days Last activity: 53 days |
| ||
| This was taken from a Discovery magazine, word for word. It's 20 facts about mosquitos, some you may already know, most you probably don't. I'm a huge fan of science and thought to share some info and discoveries with you all. So I want to make these every once in a while. I do have several Discovery magazines, but don't worry, I won't be spamming the board with these threads. I also did this at Glowsticking.com, another board I go to.
20 Things You didn't know... 
About Mosquitos ---------------------------------------- 1. The worlds largest statue of a mosquito is a roadside attraction in Komarno, Manitoba, the Mosquito Capital of Canada. ("Komarno" is Ukranian for "mosquito". What's up with that?) Sculpted in 1984, it is made of steel and has a wingspan of 15 feet. It's also a weather vane, swiveling in the wind. 2. There are more than 2500 varieties of mosquito (some entomologists claim 3000) whinging from the Arctic tundra to the tropical rain forests. Most are active at dawn and dusk, while others enjoy midday feeding. Protein is where you find it. 3. In 1998, researchers found a new mosquito species in the London Underground, descended from ancestors that flew in when the tunnels were dug 100 years ago. Once bird-feeders, they now feast on a menu of rats, mice and people. 4. They rarely interbreed with their aboveground colleagues. Their DNA actually varies from one subway line to another. 5. Mosquitos do not bite, they suck. 6. It would take 1,200,000 mosquitos, each sucking once, to completely drain the average human of blood. 7. Which seems unlikely, but then again in the Arctic, Canadian researchers who bared their arm, legs and torsos reported as many as 9,000 bites per minute from swarming, newly hatched mosquitos. At that rate, an individual could lose half his blood in two hours. 8. Once a feeding mosquito is full, a chemical signal shuts down the intake. When that signal is disabled in the lab, mosquitos suck until they explode. 9. It's hard to get upset about that. 10. According to a University of Bristol study, male mosquito "ears" are packed with about as many sensory cells as human ears, helping amourous mosquito males identify and pursue passing females. 11. When a mosquito detect the whine of the opposite sex, it begins to synchronize its own pitch to match that of the potential mate. Randy males can "relate" to girl frequencies in a second or two. Females take several times longer to synchronize. This is the same with humans in a bar. 12. Mosquitoes can mate in midair, often in as little as 15 seconds from approach to fare-thee-well. There are no known instances of prior cocktails and dinner. 13. Male Mosquitoes are actually sensitive vegetarians, living on nectar and plant juices. Only females drink blood, for protein to make eggs. 14. Millions of years ago, mosquitoes were three times as large as they are today. 15. Eyes occupy most of the surface of a mosquito's head. Not eyes into which one might wish lovingly to peer, these compound-lensed organs deliver infrared images of heat patterns emanating from a body. Like the alien in Predator. 16. Mosquitoes also use your exhaled breath to track you down, especially when you sleep or have been exercising. Fortunately, they clock out at only 1.5 mph- so you can't hide, but you can run. Unless you're on a treadmill. Then they'll get you. 17. Central America's so-called Mosquito Coast (a thin strip of land along the Caribbean in Honduras and Nicaragua) is named for the insect but after a mispronunciation of the indigenous Miskito Indians. 18. Abuja, Nigeria is home to the world's biggest mosquito net, unveiled in 2000 as part of a national campaign against malaria and other insect-borne diseases. Two hundred children fit under it. 19. Millions fo people alive today will die of a mosquito-transmitted disease. Malaria alone claims some 1,00,000 lives a year in Africa. Other top killers include dengue, yellow fever and West Nile virus. 20. But they won't die of AIDS. HIV-infected humans actually have very few virus particles in their bloodstream, and should a mosquito suck one up, it gets killed by the mosquito's digestive system. ------------------------------- So what do you think? Would you like to see more of these in the future? Any discussions? (Last edited by Cyro Xero on 02-24-08 06:52 PM) |
|||
Ryan Ptooie Is back!   Since: 10-01-04 From: Stafford, UK Since last post: 4647 days Last activity: 4607 days |
| ||
| All I want to say is that I love number 9.
Although the one about the species that appeared in the London Underground is pretty interesting to me. I want to hear some more facts about things! |
|||
|
Rogue If you're reading this... You are the Resistance Since: 08-17-04 Since last post: 636 days Last activity: 445 days |
| ||
Originally posted by Cyro Xero 
Wow. Can we figure out how to make that into a human trait? You know, make a Mosquito Man or something and use his stem cells to save millions of people? Huh huh huh?  |
|||
|
Ryan Ptooie Is back! Since: 10-01-04 From: Stafford, UK Since last post: 4647 days Last activity: 4607 days |
| ||
| Wait, if HIV virus particles aren't in the bloodstream, where are they located? | |||
Genome Swordfighter Since: 04-24-07 From: Canada Since last post: 5918 days Last activity: 5936 days |
| ||
Originally posted by Cyro Xero Truth is, you don't even have to go to Manitoba to get eaten alive by mosquitos. There was this one rest stop in Saskatchewan... don't stop your van near any place called "mosquito creek".  |
|||
|
Cyro Xero Rune Mage Rave Atom Since: 02-23-05 From: Minnesota!! Since last post: 53 days Last activity: 53 days |
| ||
Originally posted by Ryan They are locacted in your blood stream. I think the majority of the virus are found inside cells, meaning very few loose particles roam around. |
| Next newer thread | Next older thread |
| Xeogaming Forums - General Chat - Twenty Things You Didn't Know.... About Mosquitos |
| |
