When summer comes, annoying mosquitoes start to become active again, but you may not know that if mosquitoes don't get enough sleep, they would rather make up their sleep than bite . On June 1, a study published in the Journal of experimental biology confirmed this. Recently, a research team led by the University of Cincinnati in the United States found that mosquitoes whose sleep time is disturbed need to catch up on sleep the next day instead of looking for food and a blood meal.
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According to the World Health Organization, mosquitoes cause more pain to human beings than any other animal. Malaria alone causes more than 400000 deaths every year. Therefore, understanding the life patterns of mosquitoes may lead to better ways to fight mosquitoes.
The researchers said that it is particularly important to understand their sleep and diet patterns. Therefore, the research team spent more than a year to develop a sleep plan for mosquitoes.
Mosquitoes perceive humans through heat, smell, movement, etc. of the human body. Therefore, researchers specially found a quiet area to separate mosquitoes from humans in the room and record the sleeping behavior of mosquitoes.
It is reported that when mosquitoes go to sleep, their hind legs will sag, and their bodies will be closer to the surface of the docking place . According to the test, mosquitoes sleep a long time, sleeping 16-19 hours a day. The researchers spent a week on the normal sleep and eating of mosquitoes.
In the second experiment, the researchers deprived mosquitoes of sleep time. The results showed that only a quarter of the mosquitoes with insufficient sleep were interested in food. Overall, their appetite decreased by 54% . Although female mosquitoes need blood to lay eggs, they are more willing to make up for sleep in the case of insufficient sleep.