I think most people, if not all, share a very intense hatred towards a particular species of insect. I am talking about mosquitos. The highly annoying, blood sucking, disease spreading menace that people from all around the world absolutely hate. Well, except maybe for Iceland because they don’t have mosquitoes there. 

I like to call these mosquitos ‘flying syringes’ that will just suck out your blood at any chance they get and leave behind an itchy mark that you can’t help but itch! I personally am allergic to mosquitoes on a psychological level. I start feeling uncomfortable at the sight of even one.

That is why I have often pondered about what would happen if all the mosquitoes in the world were to be eliminated. I know it’s kind of a dark thought but what I can say. I just despise them! If nature ever made a mistake, I would say this was it.

This led me to researching more on the topic. There are important considerations to be made as to their importance in an ecosystem and how their absence would affect the ecology of the world. Also, even if their absence wouldn’t hurt the environment, can we play god or rather, should we?

Why We Shouldn’t

Before we consider any specicide, (yes, we have a word for it, which means the deliberate extinction of an entire species), we should consider the various factors involved. 

First things first, not all mosquitoes are bad. There are roughly 3500 known species of mosquitoes and out of these, only about 100 bite humans. The rest are happy with nectar from flowers. So, there is no point eliminating all the known species of mosquito. 

Every organism has it’s own place in an ecosystem and so does mosquito. They are food for birds, frogs, bats, fish that eat their larvae, and other animals. We still don’t understand what risks will their elimination pose to the ecology. 

One more part of the ecological equation is that due to mosquitoes about half a million to a million people die every year. Without these mosquitoes, it would mean that those lives are saved but from an ecological perspective, it also means more pressure on the environment because we are just another species for nature. 

Lastly, there is the ethical question too. Even if we some day have the power to commit a specicide, should we really exercise that power? Is it ethical to play god and just eliminate an entire species? This is one of those questions which has different answers depending on whom you ask.

Why We Should

The first and foremost thing to discuss here is all the human lives mosquitoes take every year. As I mentioned above, about half a million to a million people are killed every year because of all the diseases that mosquitoes transmit. Diseases like yellow fever, dengue fever, malaria are all transmitted by mosquitoes and eliminating them will put a stop to all of that. 

They are not called the deadliest animals for human beings for no reason. They kill more people than lions, tigers, sharks, bears or any other predators known to us. They have been around since the times of dinosaurs and are still around, ever a menace. 

Also, due to this, the world invests billions of dollars to combat these diseases. In fact the Gates Foundation has spent upwards of $2 billion to fight malaria. All this money can be saved if we just erase the root problem. 

As I said above, we do not know how their absence will affect the environment but a report in Nature magazine stated that it is highly likely that other species of insects will fill their place in the ecosystem. Many scientists in the world seem to agree. 

Lastly, though it may seem shallow, but their presence is just plain irritating with them buzzing around in our ears, making life hell during sleep at night and causing itchy bites. 

How Do We End Them?

An aircraft spraying chemicals for mosquito control

There are various methods that have been suggested to make them extinct. One method suggests to spray a formula of bacteria over large breeding grounds and habitats of mosquitoes. They will eat these bacteria which will only kill them by destroying the lining of their guts.  If done continuously over a number of years, it could ensure their extinction. 

One other very popular method that is suggested is that of genetic modification. As we know, our ability to modify genes is really getting advanced now and we are equipped with more capabilities than ever before. 

So, under this method, male mosquitoes are genetically modified so that all their offsprings die off in their larval stage. There has been actual studies done in Brazin testing the effects of this method and researchers noted an 80% drop in the number of Aedes aegypti, one of the disease causing mosquitoes.  

In the future, we may have many other effective and efficient methods to deal with this problem. One cool idea someone mentioned to me was mini drones in our homes, constantly looking for mosquitoes and zapping them with lasers, keeping us safe at all times. 

All images taken from Pixabay.