Why are they releasing millions of mosquitoes in Hawaii?

Find America Outdoors with Baratunde Thurston here: to.pbs.org/3uKw6b8
With over a million deaths attributed to them each year, mosquitoes are the deadliest animals on earth. For years, we used DDT to combat them, only to ban the pesticide in the 1970’s. Now, mosquitos are spreading as far away as Hawaii-invasive pests that harm both people and wildlife. In the post-DDT world, what’s the solution?
Surprisingly, one answer could come from a lab in Kentucky, where scientists are using bacteria to turn male mosquitos into assassins. The males mate with females, and the eggs they lay are sterile-a technique that has potential to thwart the mosquitos that spread disease. It’s mosquito v mosquito in the high stakes battle to stop mosquito-born destruction. Will it work, without upsetting the ecological balance? In Hawaii, they’re hoping the answer is yes.
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[@hmm5131]

I had backyard chickens for a few years, and I had a camera in their coop. Very quickly I realized mosquitoes would eat them alive at night, leading me to put fine screen material in all of the coop's openings. Mosquitos are the terrorists of the insect world. Imagine every night, trying to sleep while insects drink your blood, leaving itchy and infection prone welts behind. So sad for all the birds that live exposed to them.

[@pratikkore7947]

thru their feathers?😮

[@Human_01]

​@@pratikkore7947 Likely where the skin's exposed, and where feathers are less dense, e.g. near the eyes and wings.

[@huldu]

I see some comments here that don't seem to get it. The mosquitos aren't being removed because they're a nuisance to us, it's because some of them are carrying deadly viruses that affect us and other creatures in a very negative way. You also have to understand the impact by removing such an insect what other consequences it could have, how many animals are feeding on them and so on. It's a a very delicate balance in nature and by removing or adding things you're causing a disturbance. I really hope that what they're doing works out because it could really change a lot for hopefully a positive outcome.

[@althechicken9597]

There is no animal that relies entirely on mosquitos for their diet. The things like frogs who eat lots of them will eat any bugs. Food may become more scarce for these creatures if mosquitos were effectively removed, but they wouldn't all die off.

[@bmanpura]

Also, established as a premise is that mosquitoes aren't native to the island. Control is required for invasive species.

[@nauy]

@@althechicken9597Also, other bugs that are in competition with mosquitoes will expand their population inversely with that of mosquitoes.

[@googlelocoelgoog]

Also don't forget, Stephen is releasing male mosquitos, they don't even bite humans!

[@jim4859]

i hope this works. Hawaii has had too many wildlife introductions that didn't work out.

[@prophetzarquon1922]

I can't wait to see how Mars goes.

[@BVinnyC]

This bacteria is the most common bacterial infection for invertebrates and it’s said that 6/10 of all insects around the world have the bacterial infection at any given moment . So I imagine intentionally infecting the mosquito population will have little to no effect on other insects. The bacteria does not effect humans or animals either.

[@huldu]

Makes you wonder if the bacteria could be altered to affect humans as well. They could drop it off in low income areas around the world and eventually poverty would be solved or other problems that are annoying.

[@ericolens3]

​@@huldu youre wording sounds more like ethic or economic purging rather than mosquito purging.

[@huldu]

@@ericolens3 Yes, had little to do with the mosquitos and more like how some people are probably thinking. Plenty of uses and let's be honest it probably already exist such a version engineered in a lab somewhere in the world.

[@IWouldLikeToRemainAnonymous]

@@huldu Bacteria tend to be highly specified to one or a few target species and since this one is targeting invertebrates it is unlikely it would even be possible to make them be infectious towards humans. At the very least that would be a very hard task to do. Furthermore, biological weapons are a lot more risky than chemical, radiological, nuclear and conventional weapons because of the way they spread throughout a population and therefore it is less likely even a secret military lab would want to risk it with such research. There are some few labs around the world doing research on super-infectious diseases to see what genetic mutations we need to be on the lookout for in natural populations of the germs as a warning sign that some strains may be closer to becoming infectious towards humans or even more infectious if they are already a disease we're dealing with. These labs are forced to have very high security measures implemented but of course, there's always a small risk of something going terribly wrong anyway and that's why there's increasing pushback against this kind of research. I don't think I can decipher whether you support eradicating poor people through biological weapons or not... Either way, it is a reprehensible thing to do and is something that 1. wouldn't work for multiple reasons and 2. has already been tried numerous times, as in the forced sterilization of poor people and other kinds of marginalized people. In India, it is towards poor people of low cast to curb 'too high birth rates', In Sweden it was in gays and transgender people, at least up until recently. There are many terrible things happening to people, caused by other people but the perpetrators do not need to use magic or sci-fi-technology to do it. The perpetrators use conventional tools or methods that are hidden in plain sight like the functions of our economy and justice system.

[@huldu]

@@IWouldLikeToRemainAnonymous I was being quite sarcastic because like you said it wouldn't be the first time something similar has happened. Sadly it won't be the last. There are a lot of evil people out there in the world.

[@erents1]

One of my favorite places to meditate in Hawaii is Bird Park, Hawaii is magical. We still have over 75,000 rusty barrels of DDT in the bottom of the Pacific Ocean off the coast of LA. We didn’t exactly do away with it, we just relocated it and threatened an entire population of ocean mammals and people with it.

[@sizanogreen9900]

Once again humanity proving that it can responsibly deal with its issues. Not.

[@althechicken9597]

Ive personally seen the mosquitos in my area evolve to live in hotter and colder conditions. We use to be able to seperate mosquito season from the winter, and the hottest parts of the day summer, but they are almost year round now. There are certainly less of them in the off seasons, but i still get eaten alive when i go outside.

[@mikepierson7447]

Cool a video about Florida's state bird.

[@mascadadelpantion8018]

I'm always a big fan of saving birds

[@196cupcake]

8:20 The EPA's emergency exemption to let them try came out in April 2023, so when will we get an update? Great video guys, keep it up!

[@fredcamacho5333]

I would imagine researchers have mixed mosquito species in their experiments to ensure that the bacteria doesn't transfer. I'd like to see what happened there.

[@sgdeluxedoc]

I expect it's unlikely as the mosquitos will only mate with their targeted species, leaving most other species of mosquito alone.

[@fredcamacho5333]

@@sgdeluxedoc right I get that part, but is the bacteria only spread sexually? Are there any other ways that a non targeted species could be infected?

[@eric2500]

Has anyone heard about sterile male mosquitoes being released in the Florida during the concern about Zika virus?

[@TheScrubExpress]

What happens when/if the mosquitos develop a resistance to the wolbachia?

[@mohammedhassanakbari6722]

Good Question. Sadly No1 Seems to Think in the Long term, esp if sterilityis transferred to Humans.

[@sassa82]

Magnificent video!

[@WolfGuy100]

I was NOT expecting to see my city Lexington to be in this video! Wonderful video, very educational :)

[@wildfotoz]

I love your videos! Absolutely amazing!

[@alphadeltaechonew]

Thanks for your information

[@TimeTheory2099]

Thanks PBS. 👍

[@margothutton]

I enjoyed this segment, and enjoyed the host. I hope they can save those species.

[@ronkirk5099]

There is always the concern about unintended consequences, but in a place like Hawaii where mosquitoes are an invasive species, it should be full speed ahead with biological controls such as this very selective sterilizing bacteria especially if it saves native species from extinction.

[@PaulHo]

SoCal is slowly dying from mosquitoes as we speak.

[@AdmiralSym]

Lovely presentation I like this host

[@Human_01]

Interesting.

[@MegTheeStallyFan]

I love the way he says mosquitoes 😊😅

[@DeathsGarden-oz9gg]

Or we can replace parts of are cities that use to be wild back to wild like ecosystems to help there be more food and many more kinds of bugs for them to eat but mosquitoes we do not need more same goes for flys but other bugs sure.

This system is in its infancy? I'm 52 yo, 53 in a couple weeks. I heard about this system used with tse-tse flies used in East Africa when I was a kid, about 40 years ago. Are you telling me a system that has been used for about 40 years, at least, is still in its infancy? Or until something is used in the USA it does not count, for you?

[@joannmay-anthony1076]

When I lived in Wis. in the early 60s, we used to drive behind the fogger trucks (ddt dispencers) and then have a mosquito free evenings. Now at 71, i still do not have any issues. Neither do my cousins who rode with me and my brother.

[@brooksanderson2599]

I lived in the Panama Canal Zone in the early 50s, Fogger trucks sprayed DDT evenings. I've got Parkinson''s.disease. Some research indicates that pestacides play a role, especialy in farm workers. Just FYI. I have no expertise in the field.

[@joannmay-anthony1076]

@@brooksanderson2599 DDT issues are a hit or miss thing, or the issues are so minor or negligable to notice. But they can be really terrible. We where just lucky.

[@bwedesign]

What happens when the mosquitoes become resistant to this bacteria?

[@steveburke7675]

Weren't we all told about this 30-40 yrs ago? How is this different and why didn't the first attempts work?

[@lad8907]

I remember it not being done because of ethical concerns. Don't know about 30-40 years man. Farthest i know was it was in the early 2000s when it was proposed.

[@lad8907]

I remember there were trials but i don't recall any full blown widespread operation

[@zeken4413]

Go little mosquito go.

[@4ryan42]

"The deadliest animal in the world." So we're ignoring humans?

[@bfrost7]

metal gear solid V plot point had some true science? jesus kojima

[@mikepierson7447]

You sound like you have a little bit of the south in ya with that "mosquitah"

[@Bacopa68]

Black people all got a trace of the South. The whole idea there is such a thing as AAVE (and there kind of is) is folks up north not understanding that there are many similar rural white dialects in the South. Not saying AAVE don't real, but to my ears and even my white informal dialect, it's not as distinct as many believe.

[@DragonFae16]

It's so tragic that human actions are again causing a mass extinction of Hawaii's endemic birds.

[@fleachamberlain1905]

Are we sure wolbachia aren't going to be the next zoonosis?

[@deinsilverdrac8695]

I Hope so. That would be very fun to see karma bite us in the ass

[@user-vd3lv9fw3c]

What benefit do mosquito’s provide to the environment? Any? Would we miss them ecologically?

[@thycauldron]

Title content starting at 4:30.

[@emilkireev6519]

Bad beaver 05

[@lukeonuke]

Only 6% of species bite humans? Id say thats a good price to pay for not having to expirience mosquitoes

[@moosifer3321]

Given the isolated location of these Islands, one could make the case that ALL `Native` species are Invasive, similar to Humans with undesirable traits moving out of their original homes. These horrible Insects must be controlled or eradicated, I fail to see any significant ecological impacts on remaining `Guests/Visitors/Natives` - their demise would be no great loss in Earth`s biodiversity. Keep at it Guys (and Gals!), I HATE the little Critters,

[@vovan7349]

Won't the bacteria affect those animals who feed on mosquitos?

[@nunyanunya4147]

shhhh dont use logic! this is science! just blindly "accept the advice ov experts" on faith or people will call you a bigot! dont question the new god!

[@vovan7349]

@@nunyanunya4147 I was asking in a serious way, not making fun of it

[@BVinnyC]

On the CDC website it says that the EPA determined that mosquitoes with the Wolbachia bacteria are not likely to harm the environment. This bacteria is the most common bacterial infection for invertebrates and the same website states that 6/10 of all insects around the world have the bacterial infection. So I imagine intentionally infecting the mosquito population will have little to no effect on other insects. The bacteria does not effect humans or animals.

[@vovan7349]

@@BVinnyC oh, ok, thank you

[@nunyanunya4147]

fuck me for adding levity@@vovan7349

[@kinngrimm]

Once more are we humans the extinction level event. Maybe not yet to ourselves, but we are getting there eventually, if we do not change our ways.

[@LeoDas688]

Why don't we release it earlier or bred the bird in captivity and release them when mosquitos are wiped out or controlled, can't we engineer mosquito have immunity to kill the viruses

[@lostinchineseroom]

great!! GMO is Life!! ❤❤❤

[@Cyrribrae]

Don't think there's any GMO here, actually.

[@deinsilverdrac8695]

They're death not life

[@antoniohorta5656]

👍

[@cyrilio]

Let’s not forget about tuberculoses. Currently the most deadly disease in the world. AND WE HAVE A CURE, but corporate profits prevent most of the people to get proper treatments.

[@SR-lm1jx]

There is no cure for TB, and with drug resistance TB may once again be a major killer even in developed countries

[@deinsilverdrac8695]

And WE are too many and already have a serious god complex issue and try to be immortal and all so Maybe it's a good thing WE don't have a cure for everything and that we can't stop everydisease

[@finmovies6919]

Cute pumpkin 00

[@Nee96Nee]

I was told that mosquitoes was introduced to Hawaii for religious reasons. The missionaries brought them to make the indigenous people to cover themselves in western clothes and dress modestly

[@GermanSausagesAreTheWurst]

I heard a similar story, but the version I heard was that originally there were no mosquitoes in the Islands. Then the missionaries got the women to cover themselves, so the sailors brought barrels of stagnant water from Panama to bring mosquitoes to get revenge on the missionaries. I haven't confirmed that, but it was told to me by a reliable source. Either way, it kind of sucks.

[@CampingforCool41]

Likely a myth. All it would have taken was a few shallow puddles of water on a single ship and boom, you’ve brought mosquitoes to Hawaii accidentally. The way mosquitos breed, you’d barely need a handful of larvae to start the apocalypse.

[@zeken4413]

Correction. The most deadly animal to humans is……………. would you believe it. Humans

[@CF01020]

I want to see a pet genetics project to modify a strain of mosquitos that are in intense pain all of the time. And get them to breed with the wild mosquitos to have offspring that are also in pain. Would be interesting to study.

[@Youcanttouchmyhandle]

#ecocide

[@webbsurfer]

Maybe the mosquitos could also be sterilized using radiation?

[@deinsilverdrac8695]

And how do you do that idiot ? We can't sterilise millions of mosquitoes living in the wild

[@vidit10]

So we are releasing this technology to save birds, but not to save the kids dying in thousands in Africa? It's great that we care about biodiversity, but the pain of losing 1000s of kids everyday to malaria has to be considered.

[@naomiwright4895]

Great! now, fruit flies please. Lol

[@richarddeese1087]

Thanks. If course, we know it's almost inevitable that the diseases will eventually learn to hop vectors. But shy of developing a range of vaccines that can all be distributed to herd immunity levels (which is a whole can of unlikely), this is probably the best we can do. And it's cheaper, so the capitalists will hate it a bit less. Maybe they won't scream too loudly, & we can save some lives. After all, we need consumers, don't we? If you think I'm being cynical, well God bless your naive little hearts. You'll learn. tavi.

[@Just_stoptalking]

They better be careful with this mosquitoes are how we lost the wonderful kauai o'o bird

[@deinsilverdrac8695]

No Human are how we lost them.

[@Human_01]

These temu ads are the worst!! They are the mosquitoes of the ad world: very persist, deeply irritating, unwanted, waste of resources, etcetra, etc.

[@CH-vr2dl]

add it to the list of things colonizers ruined

[@malcorn3786]

In the mean time what would the option of mitigating vaccines do? I would think that giving a bird or any animal facing this issue would increase their survival? We do it for dogs and humans, could their be adverse to the birds and the ecosystem if we began mitigating vaccines as an option to increase their chances of survival? Ideally this would just be until that mosquito issue is eradicated. Then also what about intentional population control? What if some of the native folks volunteered to nuture some of the birds to be adapted to domoestic and natural habitat. This way the birds are acclamated to being outdoors but have a chance to repopulate in a controlled emvironment with humans in a sustainable measure?

[@zarkaztick8973]

Modified mosquitoes were freed near my city. Short after there were a lot around. One day I went to my backyard quickly but these insects were acting really weird. Usually just moving my leg would make them go away at least a little. Not that time. A few seconds later I was inside the house and looking at my aching foot I saw 5 MOSQUITOES BITING ME. They didn't go away when I was moved my leg. I did crush them but another strange thing happened. A few moments later I had 5 reddish-purple dots where they bit. That has never happened before in all my +30 years around them. N.E.V.E.R. Also, that mark lasted for +3 years. I do wonder if the research was really complete, not just the DNA or biological data, but actually having diverse origin persons biten by them in the lab and watching the results in their skins, which should be obvious because is what will happen when they are freed. I do know that I don't fully trust this proyect because of that. I do want to believe these videos that are uploaded from time to time saying the wonders of this project )that I heard if one from B. Gates). But I just don't know.

[@huldu]

There are so many factors involved when you're dealing with insects, they have such a fast lifecycle and the same with viruses and diseases. Just because something works in a lab doesn't mean it'll work out as planned in the wild. I do like their approach to solving the problem, it's very clever but things sometimes backfire when we do stuff. I really hope this works out and that it will not impact other animals in a negative way.

[@H_armiger]

Male mosquitos don't drink blood, they don't bite.

[@Tribuneoftheplebs]

They only release Males. Males dont bite and they cant have offspring because they are sterile. You are just a paranoid guy 😂

[@justayoutuber1906]

Please stop saying "arguably" - it means the opposite of what you think it does. It means the opposite of "undeniably"

[@mohammedhassanakbari6722]

May I ask as to the Long term Side Effects of wolbachia? Also if these Wolbachia Injected Mosquitos Bite Humans & Transfer Sterility to Them as a result? Also I can Understand as how Whaling Industry Caused the Facilitation of the Spread of Malaria as there are Large Pools of Blood & Blood in Water as well as Large Exposed Carcasses. This is a Perfect Staging Post 4 the Assault of Malaria & other Mosquito Borne Ilnesses, where earlier there were none.

[@uhohhotdog]

Let’s just eliminate all mosquitos please

[@Bacopa68]

Birds would kill us all. Many mosquito diseases that harm humans are bird disease that cross over to humans. West Nile, SLE, and Equine Encephalitis are good examples.

[@deinsilverdrac8695]

That would be very bad and stupid. Killing a specie is NEVER a good thing. Most of them don't or can't bite people. Mosquitoes are probably the reason you exist and can eat since they pollinate most plants with bees and other insects. They're at the base of the ecosystem, what do you think happen if you take that off. Mass destruction and Mass extinction. If there's thousands of species of mosquitoes that's for a reason, those little bastard are essential.

[@prophetzarquon1922]

Of all species of mosquito, only -one- _a tiny percentage_ bite humans, & only the females of those! _(Edit: Thanks deinsilverdrac8695!)_

[@deinsilverdrac8695]

@@prophetzarquon1922 False Dozen of species bite human at least. But that doesn't justify the genocide and eradication of those species anyway. As they have ecological importance and their extinction would have unforseen and uncontrolable consequences, very bad and dangerous consequences.

[@uhohhotdog]

@@deinsilverdrac8695 they’d be replaced. They’re really not that important.

[@htopherollem649]

propagandize much? the side effects of DDT that were mentioned were the most benign of the lot. you're claim that DDT was our most effective weapon in targeting mosquitoes completely dismisses the fact that in reality it is the human mind that holds the title.

[@anthonyrussano]

such propaganda