Interesting phenomenon. It may be that the mosquitoes are reacting to the
increased CO2 that you are expelling as you talk. I believe they are
attracted to CO2 to help them find their food source. When you hummed wit=
h
your mouth closed, you may not have expelled as much CO2.
It would be interesting to see how they reacted to you blowing without
making any sound along with doing Ray's experiment to check the effect of
sound with no CO2.
You might want to wear some repellent for the test though!
Chris Harrison
San Antonio, TX, USA
From:
On Behalf Of Hans Christian
Sent: Friday, August 03, 2012 8:49 AM
To:
Subject: [Nature Recordists] Talking to mosquitoes
Hi all
Recently I was out in the Nationalpark Thy in Northern Denmark, to record
ambiences just after sunset, when I came across an extremely weak
humming-sound. Barely audible without the recorder gain at max. It turned
out to be hundreds of mosquitoes inside a small forest. I started recording=
,
and then when I made the announcement into the mic, I noticed the
mosquito-hum raising in pitch for a short moment. I made different
experiments, and it seemed they only reacted to my voice each time, and not
any other sounds I made.
Has anyone come across that phenomenon? Is it a known fact that mosquitos
can "hear" humans, and distinguish them from other sounds? I've never heard
of that.
I put up the recording on SoundCloud, but it probably requires some good
headphones to hear the phenomenon:
http://snd.sc/NqgQhY
(I speak to the mosquitoes in danish, but don't bother. I'm not saying
anything very intelligent anyway. After all, they are only mosquitoes...)
Hans Kock
|