| MadSci Network: Zoology |
No. I don't think the small amount of alcohol in the blood would get mosquitos drunk. The amount of alcohol in the blood taken up by the mosquito would be very small and maybe add a tiny amount of calories to it. Like a Bloody Mary! But really, being drunk is about how alcohol affects the human brain. While insect and human brains are different they can be used to study the efects of alcohol on the brain. "Alcohol affects bees and humans in similar ways – it impairs motor functioning along with learning and memory processing," said Julie Mustard, a study co-author and a postdoctoral researcher in entomology at Ohio State University. "The honey bee nervous system is similar to that of vertebrates," said Geraldine Wright, a study co-author and a postdoctoral researcher in entomology at Ohio State. However, if there was too much alcohol, the mosquito wouldn't drink the blood. Mosquitos like blood not alcohol so the amount of alcohol in the blood would have to be in a small enough amount to not to deter the mosquito from biting. You don't see mosquitos attacted to beer, drosophila maybe, or wasps, but not mosquitos. In the bee experiment, they were fed food with alcohol but with much higher concentrations than would be in the blood of a drunk person. If there were similar levels of alcohol in the blood the person would be dead from alcohol poisoning. Here is some research about fruit fly behavior and alcohol. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/110565.stm study on inebriated bees! http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2004/10/041025123121.htm< /a>
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