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Mosquitoes
John N. Clayton
Every
summer and early fall, the newspapers start talking about how horrible
mosquitoes are.
Then I
have to deal with questions of why mosquitoes exist.
If there is a kind and loving God, why do we
have to worry about the diseases that mosquitoes carry?
I have
heard some people give rather foolish answers to this question, and I don’t
wish to over-simplify in discussing it. But why do we have mosquitoes?
Many
years ago, one of my professors at Notre Dame was Dr. George B. Craig, whose
specialty was mosquitoes.
He was
“an internationally recognized expert on the biology and control of mosquitoes”
according to a publication of the National Academies of Sciences.
As one
of his students, I learned some fantastic things about mosquitoes.
Mosquitoes
are pollinating insects. Most species of mosquitoes pollinate plants and don’t
“bite” anything.
The
word “mosquito” is Spanish for “little fly” and there are some 3500 species of
them.
The
larvae of the mosquito are a significant part of the diet of fish and other
water creatures.
The
mutation which turned some of them into bloodsuckers seems to have come into
existence in recent history.
It
appears they were not created that way, and certainly have not always carried
malaria and other diseases.
The
fact that there were no mosquitoes in Hawaii until the white man came to the
islands with water barrels containing mosquito larvae is another important
point to consider.
The
question of “why do we have mosquitoes” won’t always get answered to everyone’s
satisfaction, but at least we can raise some points to make people think.
The
design of the various food chains on Earth is very complex. This
is especially true in freshwater areas with unique problems.
In
Alaska, for example, the necessary minerals for plants and the food sources for
bears come from the salmon runs that bring the nutrients.
The
soil is sparse and nutrient-poor, and much of the year, the cold prevents
normal food chains from functioning.
Insects provide a significant means
of moving nutrients through the system, so they are the base of
the food chain in those freshwater systems.
Without
mosquito larvae to feed the freshwater creatures, including the salmon, that
life would not exist.
Research has not
given us enough data to understand how mutations in insects allow them to
become disease carriers.
There are multiple
possible answers to that question, and future discoveries will make it more
clear.
Those of us who live
in the north may not like the mosquitoes that make our outside activities uncomfortable,
but we know how to cope with them.
Why do we have
mosquitoes?
As we tie our dry
flies to fish for trout and salmon, we see why the beauty of the north is at
least partially rooted in things that complicate our lives. Mosquitoes are
among those complications.
John N. Clayton was an atheist who became a Christian
through his study of science and the Bible and spent his career as a public
high school science teacher. He has traveled around the country and around the
world to share the message of faith in the God of creation. Roland Earnst, Karl
Marcussen, and Linda Glover work with him in this ministry from locations in
Niles and Buchanan, Michigan, and South Bend, Indiana. We publish a quarterly
magazine as well as many books and pamphlets.
https://doesgodexist.today/why-do-we-have-mosquitoes/
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