A video of a biologist feeding mosquitoes daily with blood has gone viral on social media, and in the footage he can be seen reaching his hand into a box full of mosquitoes. Mosquito biologist Perran Ross says someone has to feed the mosquitoes, so he’s taken it upon himself to do it.
His videos are shared on the Instagram page 60secdocs, which tells the stories of people from all over the world through videos under a minute long.
“In addition to studying mosquito characteristics and lifespans, Mosquito Man’s (aka Dr. Perran Ross) work as an experimental biologist includes placing his arm inside a mosquito cage and letting the mosquitoes bite for 10 seconds. His biggest accomplishment has been receiving 15,000 mosquito bites,” reads the caption accompanying the biologist’s video.
In the video, Ross puts on a pair of thin gloves and places them in a glass box with mosquitoes. As soon as he puts his hand in, a mosquito lands on his hand and starts sucking his blood. When he pulls his arm out, it’s covered in bites. In the video, he also explains why he does this:
Watch the full video here:
Since being shared, the video has been viewed over 410,000 times and counting. The share also garnered around 7,100 likes. People shared the video and left various comments.
What did Instagram users say about the video?
“This is literally hell for me,” one Instagram user posted.
“Hi there, I’m also a medical entomologist PhD who studies mosquitoes. Using an artificial feeder can save you all this trouble,” another user shared.
“What I want to know is if he’s developed a tolerance to the itch!” wondered a third.
“Would it be feasible to take a blood sample and put it on a plate instead of being bitten? Perhaps with an anticoagulant to stop the blood clotting? Or would that keep the mosquitoes away?” a fourth wrote.
According to Dr Perran Ross’s personal website, he is “a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Bio21 Institute and the Pest and Environmental Adaptation Research Group (PEARG) at the University of Melbourne.”
He is currently conducting research on “the use of symbiotic bacteria (called endosymbionts) to control pests and pathogens.”
What do you think about this video of a biologist putting his hand into a box of mosquitoes to feed them?
