The most deadly living creature in the African bush, safari guides are fond of telling people, is not one of the big five, nor even the cantankerous hippo. It is the mosquito.
These insects carry a range of diseases – from malaria, to dengue, yellow fever, chikungunya and Zika – which can kill you.
Official estimates are that 760 00 people die every year from something transmitted by mosquito bites.
That is one reason why eradication campaigns won’t end any time soon.
Yet, say the entomologists – insect fundis, to you and us – mozzies don’t deserve their stingingly bad reputation.
Mosquitoes transfer nutrients from their aquatic larval habitats to other areas and serve as food for insects, fish and other animals, according to one expert.
Some of them also pollinate plants.
The experts are divided on whether eradication is the right solution, given the “butterfly” effect the elimination of one piece of an ecological network might have on its other parts.
Other scientists are trying to find a solution to the age-old question: why do mosquitoes go for some people and not others, even in the same room?
One thing they have found: mozzies, like many okes, love beer.
So, if you want to avoid being a target…
