When did mosquitoes taste human blood? Even today they take the lives of 6 lakh people every year.
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Who is the most dangerous animal in the world? Lion, shark or snake? The answer is mosquitoes. This tiny creature kills more than 6 lakh people every year. It has kept humans in fear for centuries through diseases like malaria, dengue and West Nile virus. But have you ever wondered when mosquitoes started drinking human blood? A new international research has made a shocking claim. According to research, this bloody relationship between mosquitoes and humans is not of today, but is about 18 lakh years old.
Scientists have discovered through DNA analysis the period when mosquitoes left animals and started preying on primitive humans. This story begins in the forests of South-East Asia, where our ancestors first came into contact with these tiny predators.
Scientists have done this on mosquitoes of the Anopheles leucospherus group. This is the same group whose mosquitoes spread malaria. For research, DNA testing of mosquitoes of 11 different species collected from South-East Asia between 1992 and 2020 was done. The history of their mutation and evolution was checked with the help of computer models.
Analysis revealed that the habit of drinking human blood in mosquitoes developed between 29 lakh and 16 lakh years ago. This was the period when primitive man i.e. Homo erectus first reached the Sundaland area of South-East Asia. Sundaland is part of today’s islands of Borneo, Java and Sumatra.
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Before this change, mosquitoes were happy drinking the blood of other animals and monkeys living in this area. But as the population of Homo erectus increased, a genetic change or mutation occurred within the mosquitoes. They developed receptors that detect human body odor.
It is important to understand that this evolution of mosquitoes did not happen suddenly. Humans had thin skin and lived in groups, which made it easier for mosquitoes to feed on blood. Gradually mosquitoes acquired the ability to recognize human sweat and carbon dioxide, which makes them a perfect hunter.
This research also fills the blank spaces in human history. Very few fossils of primitive humans have been found in South-East Asia. In such a situation, the timeline of evolution of mosquitoes proves that 18 lakh years ago, there was a sizeable population of humans in this area. If there were no humans, mosquitoes would never have developed the genes to be attracted to human blood. Old theories believed that mosquitoes started biting humans 61 thousand to 5 lakh years ago, but this new discovery has pushed history back millions of years.
Today there are about 3,500 species of mosquitoes around the world, but only a few of them are enemies of human life. Apart from malaria, dengue, yellow fever and Zika virus are also their contribution. The chemicals present in mosquito saliva are adept at tricking the human immune system.
Scientists believe that by understanding this old history of mosquitoes, we can find new ways to prevent diseases in the future. For now, it is clear that as long as humans remain on Earth, this 18 lakh year old ‘blood game’ will continue.
