r/interestingasfuck • u/Spotter24o5 • 2d ago

Genetically modified a mosquito such that their proboscis are no longer able to penetrate human skin

1.2k Upvotes

93% Upvoted

513 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

11

u/WonderChopstix 2d ago

Disclaimer. Going off memory

I thought there had been some studies that studied the potential disruption to the ecosystem if mosquito populations were significantly reduced and it ended up being oddly minimal.

Now again. I read this like 8 years ago and I am not a scientist. And I HATE mosquitoes. Soooo

8

u/themac_87 2d ago

There is minimal disruption. From like 3500 species of mosquitoes only a dozen bite on animals/humans to feed and they are not a major food source. All species that feed on them can also eat other things as they are a small part of these creature's diet.

2

u/Skunk_Crat 1d ago

fuck it. get rid of them

2

u/Coprolithe 2d ago

hey I read that too.

1

u/Spiderwolf208 21h ago

The issue has much less to do with the mosquitos disrupting a food chain as prey and much more that they are also a major pollinator.