They kill millions every year, as a species they are the no. 1 enemy in human history. But where I (and likely OP) grew up, they didn't spread disease so it seems kind if stupid to call mosquitoes deadly animals.
this post was submitted on 12 Jan 2026
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But where I (and likely OP) grew up, they didn’t spread disease
That got me interested. They do/did spread disease in the whole Northern hemisphere, too. According to wikipedia it used to be mostly Malaria, but according to articles in Nature etc. various mosquito-spread diseases are on the rise again.
The deadliness is the difference, I guess - with proper healthcare they don't have to be.
PS: just found this in a Finnish article:
"Although there are no common tropical diseases spread by mosquitoes in Finland, individual cases of, for example, pogostan disease (Ockelbo virus) and rabbit plague (tularemia) have been reported. Climate warming can increase the risk of new diseases, such as the dengue or Zika virus, also spreading to the Nordic countries."
I'm in the north of Scotland, never seen a mosquito in my decades here, not once. That is, until this year, loads of the buggers!
Climate change is truly upon us, and it's terrifying.
But the average person just won't look up!
Surely you have gnats and midgies and the like?
The term mosquito is global btw, which stumped me at first because it sounds kinda (sub)tropical.
Aye, we famously have high concentrations of midgies, but we always have done. There's even a map!
https://www.smidgeup.com/midge-forecast/
Mosquitoes on the other hand are not the norm. There are some species which are native but they don't have large populations. I explore the wilds regularly, from mountain to sea, and haven't experienced them until this year. They were in cities as well!
This is a good article about mosquitoes in Scotland: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/clyq59r8x7ro
Thanks for clarifying that. In Finland there's moquitoes everywhere, from the South Coast to the North of Lapland. Maybe it has something to do with the geography - All of Finland is fairly flat and protected from wind and high seas. And moist.
how did you not grow up with an instinctual hatred of mosquitos? i know what it would do to ecology and shit and i would still wipe every last one off the planet
I'll deal with mosquitoes if we can wipe out bedbugs. I can smell those fuckers.
see i don't get why people get mad at other people when we got a full on bug genocide we got to perpetrate
i know what it would do to ecology and shit and i would still wipe every last one off the planet
So, a lot of people say this because it makes a lot of logical sense, I thought the same, but if you actually ask people who are qualified, a lot of them are fairly sure that other insects/etc would likely fill the niche. Obviously still theory, but mosquitoes are usually not a cornerstone and likely mostly replacable.
And it's only a single species of mosquito that's response
I haven't dug too deep into the results, but there have been eradication campaigns using things like genetically modified mosquitos that would produce sterile offspring.
And I thought it was humans.
Vibes of when some nature show was picking the best season and they spent half an hour talking about summer, fall, winter, and spring, and then in the end they picked monsoon season, which had not been mentioned even once the entire episode.
That bites.
It really sucks too.
Itching to start a fight
Buzzed enough to fight back
Not surprised, they may cause a bloodbath.
You're probably more interested in relative numbers then eg kills per animal rather than absolute
Also, coconuts kill far more people than sharks.
That's not true. It was an exaggeration by a shark attack expert some years ago trying to downplay the dangers of sharks.
Now I wonder if you are a coconut incident expert trying to downplay the dangers of coconuts.
Big Coconut is raiding the lemmy comments
Coconuts are very aggressive when migrating.
Fucking swallows...
African or Europe-aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan?!
This guy is obviously being paid by Big Coconut to spread disinformation.
deadly mammals
It's hairy and has milk
I never like calling mosquitoes the deadliest animal. They're a disease vector, not the actual death-cause.
That's like saying that guns don't kill people, bullets do.
If mosquitoes are a major vector for the disease, then they should definitely share the responsibility for the death toll.
I'm not entirely sure how accurate that comparison would be, the mosquito isn't designed to spread disease, it's just a byproduct. Contrary to the bullet which is designed to kill and isn't just coincidentally deadly
The mosquito is the gun in that analogy, the disease is the bullet. Bullets are completely safe until fired from a gun, diseases are completely safe until you are exposed to them.
But water guns are a thing though😂
Isn't man the deadliest animal?
We're just behind the mosquito.
IIRC, we were in the top 3.
I still think that mosquitos don't ring in the next great extinction.
We're driving so many species to extinction inadvertently through climate change. Why can't we just do one more but intentionally, just, as a treat. Bats eat other bugs too, it'll be fine.
I was looking Stamets up just 2 days ago like where did this guy who is responsible for 10% of lemmy content go
Depression
that'll do it. stay safe out there Stamets. post as much or as little as you like, take care of yourself.
I, too, was wondering. Get well soon (for your sake, not just because I want more posts lol)!
I should probably work some more on my own depression ...
It was the mozzies done it.
Lmao, I miss watching these shows🥹