Why you should love mosquitoes

You might be thinking there is nothing to love about mosquitoes. They are annoying even if they don't bite. Ever try to sleep with that buzzing around your head? Waiting for the mosquito to land and take a chomp out of you? Or have a big lump - their present after sucking your blood? Mosquitoes about drive caribou wild. They feed while moving to keep the mosquitoes at a minimum. A caribou can lose up to a pint a day of blood from mosquitoes. They will seek out patches of ice to get relief from mosquitoes, though then they can't eat on ice so they can't stay too long.

I would have agreed that there was nothing to love about  mosquitoes before our trip to Denali. Here I learned an interesting fact. Mosquitoes are actually pollinators, pollinating flowers as they feed. The males live entirely on nectar; the females do need blood but also pollinate too. Amazing!

Mosquitoes have always loved me. George told me that if you take vitamin B2 and load up on it for several weeks before you'll be around mosquitoes, it will repeal them - usually. We tried that a couple of summers ago. It did not work for either of us. I got just as many bites.

However, this summer I have gotten very few bites. At most one when we are out for quite a while- even without repellent. I do have to admit I haven't been where there are black swarms of them, though. But for the most part, mosquitoes are leaving me alone.

I have two theories and no proof of either. Both of us are taking odorless garlic and have been for several months. That's one. The other is that we are eating very little sugar or processed foods. Something in could affect body chemistry and be attractive. A caribou doesn't eat sugar so that theory may not hold water. In any case, I am delighted to no longer be attractive to the little buggers! Jaimie Hall Bruzenak  Photos by George Bruzenak

A few Denali wildflowers:
Monkshood
Cinquefoil
Mountain harebell
Dwarf fireweed
Larkspur

Comments

[Lloyd]

Mosquitoes... My memories of those Alaskan buggers are not so fond. Sleeping in a tent in dispersed camping in the woods next to the water was great. The not so great part was getting up in the middle of the night and stepping out of the tent -- to do what has to be done. Needless to say it was a fast zip.... Make that fast trip.

[Jaimie Hall Bruzenak]

Mosquito quantity can vary from year to year and from location to location. We have probably been very fortunate. Also, in some places the mosquitoes are so large, they can't land if there is a breeze or you are moving.

The call of nature when camping does leave one vulnerable!

Jaimie