The mosquito bites us, the gadfly eats us and the live one could well rot our summer. But why are these filthy beasts so mean?
A mosquito that bites us, but does not feed on blood. A poisonous fish that hides right where you swim. A fake fly that loves human flesh. But why are these filthy beasts trying to ruin our summer?
Dirty Beasts offers to take a new look at the critters that surround us. Sometimes we hunt them, we hate them, we are afraid of them. In fact, they are as useful as they are harmless.
The mosquito rots our nights
Do you have in mind that little shrill noise that means a mosquito is circling you?
You’ll be happy to learn that the mosquito doesn’t actually drink blood to survive. It is actually a foraging insect, that is to say, it feeds on the nectar of flowers. It even participates in the pollination of flowers.
– Michael Leidel / Eye Em
In the mosquito, it is the female that bites. And if she does it, it’s to collect in our blood precious proteins needed to make her eggs. And contrary to popular belief, if it emits this unpleasant little noise while fluttering around our ears, it is not (only) to prevent us from sleeping. She actually seeks to attract males for mating.
The living hides where we bathe
The live fish is a fish that evolves in shallow waters, on relatively flat sandbanks. In a word, it lives at the level of our beaches!
When it takes fright, the viva hides under the sand and erects, if necessary, an excessively venomous backbone.
Don’t step on it!
The snitch is pretty good at camouflage. It can be difficult to see once buried in the sand and beware of anyone walking on it. The venom of the viva is powerful and can lead to many complications. If stung, the live could well rot your summer.
The horsefly tears our rind
One could easily confuse the gadfly with a large fly. And yet, there is a notable difference: the gadfly likes to drink our blood!
Here again, the female searches under our skin for precious proteins to make her eggs. But the gadfly is not very subtle. Instead of stinging us discreetly, it tears our rind.
– Mark Evers
With its mandibles, the gadfly tears off a piece of skin, causing us great pain. This is what causes bleeding which the creature takes advantage of to drink our blood.
Let’s be honest, a fly wouldn’t do that to us.
Other Dirty Beasts to discover
If you want to be amazed and have fun understanding the behavior of certain animal species, consult our file without further delay Dirty Beasts:
- Ant, cockroach, tardigrade: they will survive humanity, these filthy beasts!
- Spider, argonaut and praying mantis: they have an all-consuming sexual desire
- Butterfly, dragonfly, firefly: in fact, they are horrible these dirty beasts!
- Toads, tits, crepidules: they are libertine, these dirty beasts!
- Wasps, slow worms, gendarmes: we hate them, but these dirty beasts are useful