Changing the Balance: A Blood Feast

A Blood Feast

Deadly Parasites

History of a Lethal Disease

Changing Climate / Changing Habitats

Tracking Temperature Trends

The Carbon Cycle

The Greenhouse Effect

Molecules on the Move: Greenhouse Gases

Fossil Fuel and a Fiery Future

What We Do Now...

Only female mosquitoes attack humans and other animals. They don't actually bite them, but stick a long hollow tube beneath the victim's skin. They use this tube to draw in the blood they need to develop the eggs that will become the next generation of mosquitoes.

	This Anopheles gambiae mosquito is feeding on a human host. This is one of the vector insects that carries malaria.
	As this Anopheles gambiae mosquito takes a blood meal, parasites she carries in her gut can move into the victim. These parasites cause malaria.
	This photo shows the Anopheles gambiae from above. The proboscis that she uses to draw her blood meal from victims is the thick tube jutting out from her head.
	The transparent abdomen of this mosquito shows the blood she has just drawn from her victim. This is an Aedes aegypti mosquito, the species responsible for spreading dengue fever.

Anopheles mosquitoes are the only mosquitoes that carry malaria. They usually prefer to feed at dawn, dusk, or during the night. Watch them in action.