True Facts: The Mosquito

First 200 people get 20% off the annual Premium subscription.

Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License

Research Articles:

Cator LJ, Arthur BJ, Harrington LC, Hoy RR. Harmonic convergence in the love songs of the dengue vector mosquito. Science. 2009 Feb 20;323(5917):1077-9. doi: 10.1126/science.1166541. Epub 2009 Jan 8. PMID: 19131593; PMCID: PMC2847473.


Choo YM, Buss GK, Tan K, Leal WS. Multitasking roles of mosquito labrum in oviposition and blood feeding. Front Physiol. 2015;6:306. Published 2015 Oct 29. doi:10.3389/fphys.2015.00306


Ma Y, Xu J, Yang Z, Wang X, Lin Z, Zhao W, Wang Y, Li X, Shi H. A video clip of the biting midge Culicoides anophelis ingesting blood from an engorged Anopheles mosquito in Hainan, China. Parasit Vectors. 2013 Nov 13;6(1):326. doi: 10.1186/1756-3305-6-326. PMID: 24499575; PMCID: PMC3833289.


Matthews BJ, Younger MA, Vosshall LB. The ion channel ppk301 controls freshwater egg-laying in the mosquito Aedes aegypti. Elife. 2019 May 21;8:e43963. doi: 10.7554/eLife.43963. PMID: 31112133; PMCID: PMC6597239.

[zefrank]

First 200 people get 20% off the annual Premium subscription.

[GippyHappy]

The main thing I've learned from True Facts is that a shockingly large amount of creatures breathe through their butt

[AsherLogan]

This historical series is still going strong and I absolutely cannot enjoy it enough.

[pinkliondoodles]

I never get tired of hearing how Zefrank pronounces "babies"

[medieval._]

the way the mosquito rose up looked like the most badass villain entrance ever

[TheRealGuywithoutaMustache]

As someone who absolutely despises mosquitoes, watching this was the equivalent to watching the life story of my worst enemy.

[ChengTeoh]

"It's how lady Gaga would come out on stage, very dramatic" ...
Future times : Lady Gaga emerges from under the water and reveals herself as being a Mosquito this entire time!

[TSIRKLAND]

I love how this whole series started as basically a joke with entirely made-up non-facts, and has grown, with audience encouragement, into exhaustively well-researched videos that actual real scientists are proud to contribute to, and actual teachers are proud to use as teaching tools. Butt jokes and ridiculous puns and all sorts of silliness, wrapped around actual TRUE FACTS. Love it. I'm sure Mr. ZeFrank had no idea this would happen, but we're all so grateful that you followed this path. Thank you for all your hard work and dedication.

[RavengerX]

Years back used to work as a farm hand. After a week long series of rain storms a section of the farm's front area flooded a bit, had a couple inches of standing water beside the road, it was usually where we parked our cars, didn't pay much attention to it. Another week passes and the water is still there, but now it has the single largest collection of mosquito larva I had ever seen in it. Thousands of them, the water was *black* and constantly in motion from them, it was a terrifying amount and I was a little taken aback that the boss hasn't had us do anything about them. So I go and ask him if he knows what they are.

He says, "they're some kind of bug, its no big deal."
"Those are mosquito larva."
"... It's going to kill the hell out of that patch of dirt, but I want you to dump half a gallon of bleach into that water."
" *YOU GOT IT, BOSS.* "

I then had to dig a new drainage ditch. The moral of the story is always pay attention to areas of stagnant water in or around your property so you don't have go Scorched Earth on these bastards.

[libbycowgill]

I am a college professor who is teaching anthropology. Whenever I teach about primates, I use your Aye aye, tarsier, and lemur videos to keep everyone amused and educated. Would you consider more primate videos? Please? Let me tell you, Bonobos are plenty weird. All sorts of material there.

[IrishRepoMan]

"It's like how lady gaga would come out on stage"

That was so... accurate.

[webkinzgecko]

i'm literally allergic to mosquitoes and i'm stoked that there's a species out there that i can respect. nothing but love for elephant mosquitoes and their cannibalism <3

[sunRay]

5:29 that "grow up" was perfectly timed. Bravo

[khalidalamin]

Zefrank uploads, I watch immediately....and that's how I do

[themonsterunderyourbed.]

"Like, one time he said "boob" by mistake and now everyone laughs at him."

[pendlera]

Friendly reminder that although only a few species of mosquitoes bite humans, the chemicals used to kill them don't distinguish between species, and in some cases harm other insects like butterflies and bees. That's why the mosquito genetic engineering projects are such a big deal and we can't just rely on sprays.

[False_Death]

Friendly tip: One teaspoon of water can breed 100 mosquitos.

So check your yard and anything that holds water ESPECIALLY old tires. You need to empty them out because if you have a mosquito problem. Chances are they are breeding in some old bucket or tire and alot of species stay close to home. IE your yard.


Also. Minnows are your best friends against mosquitos.

If you can capture a bunch of minnows then you can release them into ponds and other things that hold water all year around.

Minnows eat mosquito larva. Remember that.

[TrojanGamer]

Key words in a Ze Frank production:
"Jerry..."
"Behbeh"
"Let's back up a bit"
"That is how a BLANK do."
"Butt first - Sorry."
"Sorry, dad joke."
"That's even worse..."

[gavingranado]

"It kinda looks like a depressed ghost, maybe he accidentally said boob one time and everyone laughed at him"

The wittiness never stops guys ngl

[faroshscale]

1:40 okay but the detail on this shot is INSANE