The paradox of flying mosquitoes makes them extremely scary

This is what science has just discovered about mosquitoes. They have a very strange way of flying, and that helps them survive for millions of years.

Basically, mosquitoes are a flying species, but their way of flying is very strange compared to other animals. Take, for example, sparrows and fruit flies, which fly by stomping, jumping into the air and then flapping their wings.

The way of flying mosquitoes is the opposite . They flapped their wings for 30 milliseconds before jumping. Their flapping speed is also extremely fast - up to 800 times / s, 4 times more than regular insects.

In fact, this is a type of flight that is considered ineffective, because it requires them to flap too much."Why do they fly that way?" - this is the question Florian Muijres, a mechanical biologist at Wageningen University (Netherlands). And he also found the answer himself: mosquitoes had to evolve to get that kind of flight, to help them avoid being detected after sucking blood.

A mosquito sucks blood, then flaps its wings.

Specifically, Muijres and his colleagues studied how the Culex species (together with the midget family) "took off" after being fully sucked. Basically, only female mosquitoes suck blood because they need to lay eggs. But after finishing the meal, female mosquitoes have increased 2-3 times compared to the weight. More importantly, they still need to escape.

"Compared to humans, it is like you carry a backpack weighing nearly 100kg on your back" - Muijres made a comparison. "You still have to fly, and it is obviously a very energy-intensive process."

Basically, only female mosquitoes suck blood because they need to lay eggs.

At this time, mosquitoes cannot fly like normal insects, because if they take off by jumping, they will create enough pressure to hit the host animal. You probably know what you will do when you see a mosquito, right? So, they are forced to fly in a costly, but safe way.

As a result, the force produced on the prey skin will be very gentle, helping them "slip away" with a full stomach full of blood.

To get this result, experts have to set up a high-speed camcorder, which can collect up to 30,000 fps (frame / s). This camcorder allows them to collect up to 20 images for each flap, thereby calculating the mosquito force generated when flying.

It is known that experts must use real people as bait for mosquitoes, and this person is Sophia Chang from the University of California, Berkeley. The reason is because mosquitoes will attack faster if bait is human.

Mosquitoes will attack faster if bait is human.

"It seems that mosquitoes have found a way to take off a lot of pressure, to avoid being discovered by humans," Muijres said. "This allows them to increase the survival rate after blood sucking".

It seems that this is also part of the reason why mosquito epidemics spread so quickly. Simply because mosquitoes are very strong, and it is difficult to detect them even when attacked.