Mosquitos & Blackflies
Northern Vampires
So, why is the north blessed with so many pesky, winged blood- suckers? In a word, habitat. Northern lands are perpetually wet in the summer months thanks to melting snow and permafrost, and water is just what both blackflies and mosquitoes need to breed. Look closely at all those lakes, rivers, creeks, swamps and pools of standing water you see just about everywhere north of 60 degrees. You will probably find masses of both mosquito and blackfly eggs, larvae and pupae just waiting to sprout wings and get under your pant legs.
But how, you wonder, can they survive the winters?!? Well, like most northern breeds, they're tough, hearty and specially adapted to surviving the cold winters. While most of the 50 to 60 species make it through the winter in egg form under the ice, one type of mosquito actually hibernates under leaves or in fallen tree trunks! These are the blood thieves which greet us with great appetites at spring's first warming.
Interestingly, it is only the females that go after our life fluid, while the males are content with flower nectar and other more pleasant foods. Blackflies of both sexes shun the vegetarian diet and dine on the blood of northern mammals, birds and, as your trip north will prove, people.
Now, while blackflies simply rip out a small chunk of flesh and lap up the blood that pools in the wound, mosquitoes for all their whining are slightly more subtle in their ways. After finding a suitable spot, the female mosquito probes the surface with her long, needle-like nose searching for vein or blood rich tissue. When she hits fertile ground she quickly plunges deeper, injects an anticoagulant to make the blood flow more easily, and sets to work sucking up her fill using two strong, head-mounted pumps. Mosquitoes are able to slurp up and carry over three times their weight in blood! Believe it or not, it is the anticoagulant that causes the itching and you are less likely to itch if you let the mosquito finish its job, as it will suck most of it back up during its feed.
Both of the insects are also extremely skilled at locating their potential meal hosts almost no matter what protection we take. The two hone in on things that give off heat, carbon dioxide and moisture - the three things we people give off in abundance! Regardless of their innate people-finding abilities, however, just about every Northerner you talk to still has their own opinion of how to avoid getting bitten in the first place. Many favour brand name bug repellents that momentarily foil our tiny, winged predators by scrambling their sensors. Unfortunately, bug dope is no guarantee against getting bitten and some of the more effective brands are also fairly toxic. Many locals actually spurn repellents as sissy "Outside" decadence and instead swear by more homespun methods that range from avoiding excess sugar in foods ("Sweet blood attracts 'em!"), to eating lots of garlicky meals ("Stinky blood foils 'em!"), to wearing light coloured clothing ("Bugs go fer colours!"). Still others, the majority really, simply adopt a northern style Zen-like approach, and accept the summer swarms as part of life in the north. Living here you get used to the bugs, appreciate their large role in the northern food chain, and with every passing bite, itch less. With this attitude, of course, comes the realization that long pants tucked into your socks, a hat and long sleeves can also do wonders to decrease the itch. So do screens on doors and windows.
So, welcome to the north. Enjoy the bugs, it's part of the whole experience. Feel free to employ your own bite avoidance strategy, but just don't be surprised if for all your precautions you still get bitten a couple of times. You will. Oh, and those stories you've heard of caribou choking to death on swarms of blackflies and mosquitoes - well, they're true; but those about people being sucked dry, they're not.
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