Exploring Nature: Killer Skeeters

Mosquitoes have been killing off populations of native honeycreepers, a bird species that lives in the high elevations of Hawaii.
Photo from Metro Creative

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Mosquitoes are killing lots of native birds in Hawaii.

To be precise, female mosquitoes carrying avian malaria are the culprits. That’s because only female mosquitoes bite and feed on blood. Males subsist on plant juices, nectar and plant sap. They do not even have the mouth parts to suck blood.

Birds especially at risk are honeycreepers, a beautiful species found in high elevations once too cool for mosquitoes to breed. However, with a warming climate, mosquitoes that once lived in lowland areas are now migrating into these higher elevations.

One bite from an infected mosquito can kill an adult honeycreeper.

How to stop the threat of honeycreeper extinction? Oddly enough, one solution is to release male mosquitoes into the wild. These are specially-bred male insects that will not match up with the wild population.

These introduced males don’t bite and are not capable of reproduction, so the overall wild population tends to crash with their arrival.

It’s called “incompatible insect technique” and it is an effective type of mosquito birth control.

By releasing modified male mosquitoes, not only do overall mosquito populations plummet, but so do cases of malaria and Dengue fever.

I’ve visited the areas in Hawaii where these birds thrive and was most happy to see a brilliant redand- black honeycreeper. I’m delighted this lovely bird has a fighting chance to survive.