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Tuuurun… tuurunn…. tuntun tuntun tuntun tururúuu! Can you imagine the fear you would feel if you were in front of a shark?
Sure, a lot, but although sharks are intimidating in 2020 there were ten deaths from shark bites. It would be much more logical for us to fear this animal. Yes, these little ones are the cause of 700,000 deaths a year.
Mosquitoes are carriers of diseases like; malaria, dengue, yellow fever, Zika, Chikungunya, Japanese encephalitis and nine other diseases. And not only do they affect us, they can also transmit diseases to livestock and dogs. We would definitely live calmer without these pesky insects, but what if we killed all the mosquitoes?
Perhaps you have considered that the world would be a better place without certain animals, not only because they cause disease, but also because they can be repulsive. Wouldn't we be happier without those flying cockroaches? Roaches spread bacteria like salmonella and Shigella, and their droppings make allergies and asthma worse.
And guacatelas that one falls on your face in the middle of the night. Despite everything, they have a very important role. Their excrement is rich in nitrogen and helps as a fertilizer for tree growth.
They are the food of birds and mammals, if the cockroaches were to disappear, the populations of some animals would decrease by not having these delicious foods on their menu. Without the cockroaches, this pretty emerald wasp would also disappear. This wasp injects a poison into the cockroach to turn it into something like a zombie cockroach.
Wasp larvae depend on the cockroach for food. For eight days the larvae eat the inside of the cockroach while it is still alive Poor little cuckoos! In cities, cockroaches are super useful because they eat everything in the drain.
They help (along with bacteria) to quickly break down the stool. Without them the drainage and garbage cans would be even dirtier places. In addition, cockroaches naturally produce powerful antibiotics that allow them to live in unsanitary environments and could help us discover new antibiotics.
The idea of killing all the roaches is not so brilliant after all and to be honest; getting rid of all of them is almost impossible. Cockroaches have been living here for almost three hundred million years, they endure more radiation than we do, they can survive a month without eating, the use of insecticides has made them increasingly resistant and they have learned to detect the poison that we leave them. His only fear, like ours, is: the flip-flop!
So far it is not planned to completely get rid of cockroaches as there is some benefit to having them around. Even so, keep your house clean and tidy because we do not recommend that they live in it, they better stay under it. Well not the cockroaches, so couldn't we get rid of the rats?
They eat everything, gnaw on metal, cables and a host of materials, fit through openings of less than two centimeters, survive falls of fifteen meters, can swim for several days and go out through your toilet. And now they have mutated and are immune to various poisons, they have fifteen thousand baby rats in a year and when populations are reduced they mate faster. They are a danger from all the bacteria and viruses they spread.
One study observed that rats carry more than a dozen known and unknown pathogens, identifying them as a major source of zoonotic pathogens. And the economic loss caused by rats is very high. Although not everything is bad.
A wide variety of mammals, birds, and reptiles feed on them. With their powerful sense of smell they help us find drugs, landmines and disaster survivors. They are capable of empathy and pain and look at those little mustaches!
The idea is not to disappear them from the face of the Earth, only to control their populations in the cities. The city of Alberta has not had rats in the last seventy years and millions of dollars have been saved and disease prevented. Currently in Washington DC the control of populations through their birth is being tested using compounds that do not affect other animals and do not pollute the soil or water.
So far the results are promising. And what about mosquitoes? Can we get rid of them?
Well, we don't want to get rid of all the mosquitoes, just those disease-carrying bloodsucking vampires. Of the 3,500 species of mosquitoes that exist, 100 require blood and carry disease. Attempts are being made to reduce the populations of these mosquitoes in various parts of the world .
The idea is to release thousands of mosquitoes . . .
What? Don't wait, that's contrary to plan. Ah!
modified mosquitoes. Millions of male mosquitoes infected with the Wolbachia bacteria are released in Singapore. These mosquitoes mate with females and they lay eggs, but the eggs never hatch.
Genetically modified male mosquitoes were released in the Cayman Islands. The offspring of these mosquitoes are infertile and a reduction of 96% was achieved. In Australia, the aim is not to kill mosquitoes, but to modify them so that they are resistant to pathogens and can no longer transmit them to humans.
Right in 2021 in Florida genetically modified mosquitoes are being released. The objective is to release mosquitoes whose offspring are reduced and are exclusively male. And what is going to happen?
Although there is a wide variety of animals that feed on them, they will most likely find other options to feed themselves. But there are other concerns. Mosquitoes are one of the main detractors of the deforestation of the Amazon rainforest because they attack deforesters without compassion.
Modified mosquitoes could mutate and become super resistant. Or modifications to make them resistant to one disease could increase their susceptibility to another. It does not matter if it is cockroaches, rats, mosquitoes or any other bug that we do not like, an important question arises: do we have the right to continue eliminating species?
Scientists believe that eliminating these populations is beyond our reach and that the best we could achieve is to control them. But, in the end, we are part of a complex and delicate ecosystem , any change will have repercussions and only time will tell if the results will be beneficial or catastrophic. The truth is that we have motivated their growth from the climate crisis, we have given them food on a silver platter by not taking responsibility for our waste and we have invaded their habitats.
We have encouraged these animals to live with us and our inability to live responsibly in our environment has made the situation worse. Science can improve our lives by preventing the diseases transmitted by these animals, but we should solve our environmental problems before attempting the extermination of an entire species. Curiously!
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