this post was submitted on 29 Aug 2024
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Science Memes

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[–] UraniumBlazer@lemm.ee 18 points 2 months ago (2 children)

Serious question: Has any culture tried breeding these guys to keep mosquitoes at bay? Something like how people kept cats around to reduce the population of mice?

[–] shalafi@lemmy.world 13 points 2 months ago (2 children)

Interesting question! I'd guess, however you do it, you could only achieve a temporary uptick in the population. Like any other predator/prey relationship, the ecosystem can only support X predators. After all, the ancient Egyptians could only have so many cats around until they ran out of mice.

Be a pain to breed. They stay underwater as nymphs for 2 years, and that's 2 years where you gotta keep them from being someone else's lunch.

[–] SLVRDRGN@lemmy.world 4 points 2 months ago

And two years underwater only to have them for one month airborne.

[–] meowMix2525@lemm.ee 3 points 2 months ago

They also feed on mosquito larvae and hold their own pretty well in the water though.

[–] NeatNit@discuss.tchncs.de 4 points 2 months ago

They're not cute like cats, so I guess no.