What If the World had No Mosquitoes…
Imagine this situation. Your child has a project to write about the insect that s/he likes and your child chooses, of the 5.5 million insects varieties found in the world, MOSQUITOES.
If there is one thing that the entire human race hates, then it is none other than Mosquitoes. I am sure that my dear reader would agree with me on this. It is generally an uninvited and also an unliked guest in every household. Basically it is a pest not only to the human race but also to the other living things present in the animal kingdom.
A world without mosquitoes
We all know that it is due to mosquitoes that we have deadly diseases like chikungunya, dengue, malaria, elephantiasis etc… So what happens if there are no mosquitoes? We(I mean, all living organisms that are broadly termed animals) will be safe. No doubt about that. But a fair amount of birds, plants and sea animals will have a major hiccup in their eating lifestyle before they get adapted to their new normalcy which may result in wiping of a few of the aforementioned(Birds, plants and sea creatures) varieties. Just a small detour here. Mosquitoes drink at least 300ml of blood from animals like deer and buffalo making them weak and make them a natural prey for the hunting animals. So these types of animals have to stand against the wind to protect themselves from this pest.
Pests replace pests
So let’s assume with human intelligence and technological help we( here it’s just us. Humans) erase the deadly insect MOSQUITOES. What happens next? Some other pest as potent as the mosquitoes will refill the place and challenge the entire vertebrate community. Nature is a vicious cycle. Every organism has its own strengths and weaknesses.So if a species is erased completely from the face of earth, two events are likely to happen for certain. One possibility is the erased pest will be replaced by another one. Or else, the predators which thrive on these pests will slowly perish.
Yes, Mosquitoes have an important role in maintaining the stability of this ecological cycle. They become major food for birds, lizards, frogs and even for a few predator plants like pitcher plants. Now let me end this essay on a very sweet note for my dear readers…Do you know that mosquitoes are pollinators like our bees and butterflies? If they leave this world for good we will not be able to get great cocoa.
Now let me come to the first imaginary situation. Which insect do you Like?
