Have you noticed that often, when you are going on holiday to places where there are likely to be a lot of mosquitoes — camping for example — people advise you to wear dark clothing to avoid these nasty bloodsuckers? Their reasoning is that mosquitoes are attracted to certain colors— especially dark colors. And if you avoid these colors, you will be safer. But is there any truth to this? Yes, there is a little truth in that… Mosquitoes are indeed attracted to certain colors.
How do mosquitoes find you?
Mosquitoes use a lot of techniques to find you. They try to detect signs of life. This way, they are sure they are not wasting their time swarming around rocks and other objects with no blood. Color is just one of the many factors they look for to detect life.
- Mosquitoes look for carbon dioxide to detect life. Mosquitoes have palps, organs between the antennae they use to detect odors. They also use these to help detect carbon dioxide. After all, human breath contains a lot of carbon dioxide, and it has a smell. For mosquitoes, the presence of carbon dioxide is a good indication that something is alive. And if something is alive, it will have blood that they can feed on. Mosquitoes are so adept at detecting carbon dioxide that they can sense it tens of feet away.
- They can sense humans through sweat. Mosquitoes use a suite of neuroreceptors to confirm that their target is human. Once they have detected carbon dioxide, they take a closer look at you with the help of body heat, color, and compounds on your skin. With enough cues, they can conclude that you are human. And therefore, it is safe to plunge their proboscises into your skin. One of the compounds they look for on your skin is your sweat, particularly the lactic acid in it.
- They are more attracted to certain blood types. Do you notice that some people seem to be bitten by mosquitoes more than others? One reason for this is that mosquitoes prefer certain blood types. Specifically, they prefer the blood type O. Numerous statistics, studies, and tests show that mosquitoes prefer this blood type over others. But this is but one reason why some people are bitten more than others. Other reasons may involve other mosquito attractors. For instance, pregnant women exhale more carbon dioxide.
Mosquitoes are attracted to certain colors
Mosquitoes are attracted to dark colors not just because of the colors themselves, but also because of how these colors give more signs of life, such as body heat and sweat.
- Mosquitoes are attracted to dark-colored clothing. Their sense of smell is their most powerful tool in looking for victims to feed on. But don’t underestimate their sense of sight. Yes, mosquitoes have eyes. They can’t see images as clearly as humans. But the images are enough to help determine if a target is alive or not, especially if the mosquitoes pair them with their other senses. They like black, red, and orange. Their attraction to long-wavelength colors stems from the fact that human skin emits red-orange light.
- They need other signs of life to complement the dark colors. An object that is dark red or orange won’t automatically be swarmed by mosquitoes. These pests are smart. They look for the other signs of life, such as body heat, carbon dioxide, and sweat to confirm their visual cues. The problem with dark colors is that they trap a lot of heat, and the heat will make you sweat. These additional signs of life can make you a mosquito magnet.
- They need your blood for their reproduction cycle. Why are mosquitoes so keen on looking for a victim to feed on in the first place? Well, it’s literally for the survival of their species. Mosquitoes need blood because it has the necessary ingredients to develop mosquito eggs. Without blood, mosquitoes will have a very difficult time reproducing. Blood also has iron and protein, nutrients that are not exactly accessible to such small insects. Mosquitoes are hunting you for their survival. Don’t make yourself an easy target by wearing the colors they like.
How to use these facts to your advantage
Mosquitoes need your blood to survive. Unfortunately, we don’t live in a Disney movie, so we can’t just let these bloodsuckers get what they want. Mosquito-borne diseases are some of the deadliest diseases in the world. Avoid mosquitoes and their bites to help prevent getting these diseases.
- Avoid dark-colored clothing. Dark-colored clothing is great for mosquitoes. It helps them see you easier. The darkness also traps more heat, making you sweat inside your clothes. If you wear dark colors, you are basically completing the mosquito checklist of signs of life — body heat, carbon dioxide, dark colors, and sweat. By wearing light colors, you are at least removing dark colors from that list and minimizing body heat.
- Avoid activities that will make you breathe harder. Unfortunately, you can’t completely remove carbon dioxide from that checklist. Your very breath has carbon dioxide. But the least you can do is avoid activities that will make you breathe more intensely, such as exercises. No, this doesn’t mean you should completely stop exercising or doing intense physical activities. It just means you should do these things when mosquitoes are not very active, like when the sun is still out. Avoid these things too when you know you are going to an area with a lot of mosquitoes.
- Take a bath before going to bed. Mosquitoes often bite around the head and feet. One of the reasons why, especially in the case of feet, is that these body parts tend to accumulate more moisture and sweat. Taking a bath before going to bed will help prevent mosquito bites. You may think that you can skip this because you don’t sweat during the day — but actually, you do. The darkness of your bedroom and the subtle sweat on your body can make you prone to mosquitoes.
Mosquitoes like dark colors
Mosquitoes like dark colors, especially black, red, and orange. But dark colors are just some of the many clues mosquitoes look for when they are trying to find targets for their blood meals. Other signs of life, such as carbon dioxide, body heat, and sweat are all included in the checklist.
With that said, wearing light-colored clothing may help in preventing mosquitoes and their bites, especially if you complement it with other mosquito prevention methods.