I read once that ironically one of the most important ecological niches for mosquitos is that they keep humans out of a bunch of places that allow those habitats to be preserved. It’s their annoyance and medical danger to people that makes them so valuable to the ecosystem.
Shit, as a Floridian, you may have just convinced me we should let them live. We already have too many people moving here.
Its sort of ironic how mosquitoes are at the very bottom of the food chain for most of the ecologies they inhabit… But at the same time, is the biggest killer (through the transmission of malaria and other diseases) of humans, who see themselves at the top of the food chain.
In reality, the food chain is more like a food cycle.
This is one gamble I am willing to make.
As much as I hate mosquitoes, I must admit that without them, entire ecological systems would collapse…
Are we sure about that though? There are a lot of other small insects that fill the same niche without biting humans (including other mosquito species).
I remember people used to complain, “what about the bats?” until we found that mosquitos make up at most 2% of a bat’s diet.
I wonder what face would ticks pull in this case where we already know there is no drawback for 100% annihilating them.
I think its unethical to cause an animal to go extinct on purpose. Like it seems a very nuclear option to me.
On the other hand I hate these mosquitoes tho… And they are a medical threat to humans
I guess we humans have a different code of ethics for diseases and bacteria… Team DNA mixing vs team DNA cloning… A fight as old as life itself
Team preoccupied with whether or not they can vs team thinking if they should
I think its unethical to cause an animal to go extinct on purpose.
Counterpoint: guinea worm, a nightmarish human parasite with possible mentions back to ancient Egypt. As of the mid 1980’s, it infected millions every year. Now it is on the verge of extinction due to a very concerted international effort. All those little worms were doing was causing intense physical suffering for humans and other animals.
Seems like we could somehow try to genetically engineer their bites to not itch at least
