'And then they bite you...'
Ellen starts her mosquito farm - and then explains to Kate what she intends to do with them. It's all in the call of the wild video extra.
Call of the wild diaries
Don't be lunch
Mosquito misery on holiday? Forget your repellent? Disaster? Not if you know how to make your own. Get the science to fight back against mosquitoes and malaria.
Discover Zanzibar
Ellen McCallie's diary about the challenge for the Call of the Wild programme, part of the fifth BBC/OU TV series Rough Science, based in Zanzibar
Day 2
About twenty-five adult mosquitoes emerged from the pupa. I wanted more, but this is okay. As these species of mosquitoes aren’t active during the day, they just sat on the mesh of their cages all day.
I ended up making two repellents, though the actual test only used one. I ground up and extracted the essential oils of lemongrass, commonly used in cooking, in alcohol. This type of repellent is supposed to mask the smell and carbon dioxide released from human skin. I also did the same with neem tree leaves. The chemical properties of neem tree leaves supposedly induce a vomiting reflex in mosquitoes - lovely.
As the sun was starting to set, we did the test. Not ideal conditions - later would have been better - but filming tiny insects in complete darkness wasn’t really possible, so we compromised. As soon as the mosquitoes started moving, Kate stuck one hand without repellent in one cage and the other with repellent in the other. These newly emerged mosquitoes probably weren’t at their most hungry quite yet, but they did buzz around and land on Kate’s hand - the one without repellent. Whew! The only inconvenience with natural repellents is that they have to be reapplied every 15 minutes or so.
Day 3
With my section of the challenge over, today was a beautiful day to help others. Kathy’s periscope was fantastic. Jonathan’s hydrophone worked pretty well, too. The crystals Mike grew were absolutely amazing.
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Content last updated: 26/01/2005
