What is it in skin that attracts mosquitos?

Question

Last summer my firend and I were on a porch and she was like convered in mosquitos and the were buzzing around me but leaving me alone. I didnt use any repellent

Answer 1

For years people have known about animal attraction. Perfume and cologne are the primary "weapons of choice" many use to attract the opposite sex.


But we don't need to do anything to attract insects. We give off hundreds, maybe thousands, of natural scents that bugs, particularly mosquitoes, just love. So, a major factor to consider would be your own natural body odor. Aside from your friend wearing perfumes or colognes.


Scientists have known for years that lactic acid—present on human skin—is a mosquito attractant. So far, this is true for only a handful of species, one of which is the yellowfever mosquito, Aedes aegypti. Finding what attracts mosquitoes will ultimately help us find ways to control them.

It's difficult to find an attractant because unlike a pheromone (a single substance that attracts one sex of an insect species to another), it appears that multiple compounds or kairomones (care-ah-mones) are needed to attract mosquitoes. Simply Irresistible!

The main ingredient in the cheese is a bacterium that can be found on the human foot

What may be attractive to one species may not be for another. For example, some species may be attracted to human blood while others may feed only on the blood of wild or domestic animals. Your friend might be menstruating and thus her blood attracted the mosquitoes. You might have been in a region infested with female mosquitoes which generally suck the blood of all mammals, counting humans as well.

Still another reason, your friend might have been wearing something blue which tends to attract mosquitoes.

Don’t Be Attractive…

...at least to the mosquito. Mosquitoes see movement more than an actual object and they see sharp contrasts of dark and light colors. Choose clothing that blends in with the environment. If you are 30 feet away from a mosquito dressed in a green outfit sitting next to a bush the mosquito wouldn’t know the difference between you and the bush — at least not until he is within 10 feet of you.

Mosquitoes are attracted by the smell of carbon dioxide and lactic acid, both of which are given off by us when we exhale especially when we are active. Mosquitoes follow our body scent upwind against breezes up to 6 miles an hour.
When a mosquito is within 10 feet of you it can feel body heat. The mosquito’s heat sensor is more accurate when the humidity is high.


More Mosquito Facts

Only a female mosquito will bite. She requires blood every 3 to 4 days for egg production. She will often drink more than her weight in blood in one “sitting”.

The male mosquito prefers the taste of flower nectar.

Men are more likely to be bitten than women.

Young adults are more likely to be bitten than any other age group. Next in line are older adults. Larger persons tend to be more attractive to mosquitoes.

A mosquito does not “bite”. She actually siphons the blood out by a tube.

It is believed that a larger person attracts mosquitoes more than a smaller person because of the amount of carbon dioxide and heat emitted by the person.

The only place mosquitoes do not live is Antarctica.

The correct plural spelling for mosquito is “mosquitoes” (with an “e”) in English and “mosquitos” (without the “e”) in Spanish.

Most species of mosquitoes are most active at dusk and dawn. Time of day is also extremely important. Mosquitoes tend to have cycles when they are more active and will or will not feed, the light conditions, air temperature, and airspeed.

Answer 2

Sometimes mosquitoes are attracted to the smell of sweat on your skin. They're attracted to the salt, or the smell of natural body oils. Some people just don't attract mosquitoes, and those people I call lucky. When I used to live in Alaska (a state hugely populated by mosquitoes in summer, and all of them much tougher than the ones you would typically find in other places in the US), I would get covered in the things unless I put on bug spray that was almost pure deet.

Answer 3

Carbon dioxide. Here's a detail explanation: http://mosquitobiteremedies.com/what-attracts-mosquitoes/

Answer 4

Blood

Answer 5

Blood

Answer 6

Each person secretes different smells called pheromones. This is what attracts the insects. basically, your friends blood smells better to the mosquitoes than yours does. Consider yourself blessed.

Answer 7

I feel your pain! I can be outside for 5 minutes and come back inside with a dozen bites. I don't use lotions at all (can't stand them) and they still bite me, so I know it's not because of that. Trying using that spray called OFF. It works really well!

Answer 8

I think mosquitoes are attracted to the scent of
"corn bread soaked in neck bone juice".

Answer 9

just different scents or heat you're giving off. They go by that. Plus brighter colors too, so if they're pale skinned or wearing bright clothes, that could be it too...

Goodluck and use OFF or Skin so soft by avon!

Answer 10

It's not your skin but you blood that they are after. However, they actually track you down and find you by the carbon dioxide that you exhale.