Recent research by Ed Young explores what really happens when a mosquito sucks your blood. This video provides an microscopic look at a mosquito’s weirdly flexible mouthpiece as it searches for a blood vessel to pierce and drink blood from. Researchers also found that mosquitos spend on average of about four minutes drinking blood.
At higher magnifications, [Pasteur Institute researcher Valerie Choumet, who conducted the study] could actually see red blood cells rushing up their mouthparts. They suck so hard that the blood vessels start to collapse.
The study also showed that malaria-carrying mosquitos spend more time searching for blood vessels than non malaria-carrying mosquitos.
The next time you notice you have a mosquito bite, remember that your blood cells were crushed by the sheer suction force of the insect that was eating you.
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