Arctic Science Journeys
Radio Script
1997

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Skeeter Zappers Miss Target
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STORY: For most of us, the BBQ season is all but over, pushed aside by falling leaves and frosty nights. At least there's fewer mosquitoes, those chilly nights accomplishing what your expensive bug zapper failed to do--that is, kill lots of mosquitoes.

Sure, you remember hearing your backyard bug zapper snap, crackle, and pop all summer long. Don't deny it, you took perverse joy in the idea of all those mosquitoes going down in flames. But what if you were to learn that most of those crispy bugs weren't mosquitoes at all?

That's what Phil Pellitteri says. Pellitteri is an entomologist at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, and he says those satisfying sounds are more often the bugs that eat mosquitoes rather than the mosquitoes themselves.

PELLITTERI: "Sometimes we talk about a revenge factor where people hear these things getting fried, and they think that they're killing mosquitoes. But again when you really get down to what's going on, they're killing lots of things that aren't mosquitoes."

Scientists at the University of Delaware recently undertook the grizzly task of identifying the charred remains at the bottom of six bug zappers. They found that of 14,000 electrocuted bugs, only 31 were biting insects. Since people in the U.S. use about 4 million zappers, scientists estimate that they kill about 14 billion innocent insects each year.

The zappers use ultraviolet light to attract insects into a grid of wires that electrocutes them. Pellitteri says traditional bug zappers don't work on mosquitoes because they use light as bait. Mosquitoes don't target on light. They find their prey by sensing heat.

But don't despair. Where there's a need, there's a gizmo to fill it. A better zapper, one that emits the radiant heat energy equivalent to that of a cow, will soon be available. According to field trials, mosquitoes seem to love it, and most other insects leave it alone. Still, no bug zapper can kill every mosquito. Ultimately, Pellitteri suggests we just get used to them.

PELLITTERI: "I think what people look for is a bit of an easy answer. The reality of insects is they're the most dominant life form in the world. Although we can do some things at times to slow them down or manipulate them, there are some insects that we cannot control. Mosquitoes are probably one example that we can do things to reduce their numbers. But ultimately we'll never eliminate or make mosquitoes extinct."

Perhaps, but we can try!

OUTRO: For Arctic Science Journeys, this is Robert Hannon reporting from Fairbanks, Alaska.