The colors that you wear can either ward off or attract mosquitoes. Studies show that these insects are drawn to orange, black, and red. That is why experts tell people to wear white, purple, green, or blue. Here are more details about the color of clothes that you wear and how mosquitoes view them.
How This Happens
Human skin has a shade of red-orange. That is why mosquitoes will fly to anyone who does not cover up or wears red and emits carbon dioxide. Your breath will be a primary signal that you are a source of a blood meal. Smelling the gas helps them find and bite you.
The smell of carbon dioxide stimulates their eyes to start scanning for visual patterns and specific colors. These colors are often linked to a possible host and fly directly to the blood meal source. Knowing what color to use in covering your skin can help you avoid the bites.
Colors Can Help
The colors that repel and attract mosquitoes can help repellent companies figure out how to repel mosquitoes. They use these colors in developing different traps or techniques in keeping mosquitoes away. But you can do the repelling yourself by knowing the different triggers for mosquitoes to bite. These are your skin’s temperature, breath, and sweat.
What The Studies Reveal
Scientists performed a study to test the colors and odors that attract mosquitoes. They took the Aedes species of mosquitoes and placed them in a chamber. The scientists then exposed the mosquitoes to scent and visual cues. Female mosquitoes drink blood to nourish their developing eggs. These mosquitoes can transmit deadly diseases like Zika, yellow fever, dengue, and chikungunya.
The scientists sprayed specific odors. A human hand and a colored dot were also shown to the mosquitoes. The absence of a fragrance stimulus made the mosquitoes ignore the mark at the bottom. This happened despite the color. When the scientists sprayed carbon dioxide, the mosquitoes did not pay attention to the repelling colors anymore. But when it was just the attractive dots, the mosquitoes went straight for them.
The Association
Humans cannot smell carbon dioxide but mosquitoes can. They associate the smell with the promise of a blood meal. That is why the smell excites a female’s activity. It makes them explore the environment for the host. The excitement is like what a person feels when there’s the smell of a delicious pie or bread in the air. The smell allows you to hone in on the nearest bakery. In the female mosquito’s world, they know that there is a blood meal nearby.
Temperature, sweat, and breath are the cues that female mosquitoes use to find their next meal. Studies show that the fourth cue is the color red. This color is in everyone’s skin tone. The shade of your skin does not matter at all. But you can filter this strong color by wearing unattractive colors to them.
Mosquitoes are attracted to your temperature, breath, sweat, and the red color of your skin. You should wear colors that cover the redness of your skin and mask the other attractive factors you carry. This valuable finding can help more manufacturers produce more effective products to keep the bites away.