The loathsome, lethal mosquito - Rose Eveleth

Odvratni, smrtonosni komarac - Rouz Evelet (Rose Eveleth)

Prevodilac: Mile Živković Lektor: Anca Dimovska

What's the worst bug on the planet?

Koji je najgori insekt na planeti?

You might vote for the horsefly or perhaps the wasp,

Možda ćete glasati za konjsku muvu

ili možda osu,

but for many people,

ali za mnoge ljude

the worst offender is by far the mosquito.

najveći krivac je svakako komarac.

The buzzing, the biting,

Zujanje,

ujedi,

the itching,

svrab,

the mosquito is one of the most commonly detested pests in the world.

komarac je jedan od najomraženijih

štetočina na svetu.

In Alaska, swarms of mosquitos can get so thick

Rojevi komaraca na Aljasci mogu postati tako gusti

that they actually asphyxiate caribou.

da zapravo guše karibue.

And mosquito-borne diseases kill millions of people every year.

A bolesti prenete komarcima

svake godine ubijaju milione ljudi.

The scourge that is the mosquito isn't new.

Pošast komaraca nije ništa novo.

Mosquitoes have been around for over a hundred million years

Komarci su tu

preko 100 miliona godina

and over that time have coevolved with all sorts of species,

i tokom tog vremena su se uzajamno razvijali

sa raznim vrstama životinja,

including our own.

uključujući i našu.

There are actually thousands of species of mosquitos in the world,

Zapravo postoje hiljade vrsta

komaraca na svetu,

ali svi imaju jednu podmuklu osobinu:

but they all share one insidious quality:

they suck blood,

sisaju krv,

and they're really, really good at sucking blood.

i zaista su dobri u tome.

Here's how they do it.

Evo kako to oni rade.

After landing, a mosquito will slather

Nakon što sleti, komarac po koži žrtve

some saliva onto the victim's skin, which works like an antiseptic,

prospe malo pljuvačke

koja služi kao antiseptik

numbing the spot so we don't notice their attack.

i čini da to mesto utrne kako ne bismo uočili njihov napad.

This is what causes the itchy, red bumps, by the way.

Usput, od ovoga nastaju crvene tačke koje svrbe.

Then the bug will use its serrated mandibles

Insekt će onda iskoristiti svoju nazubljenu donju vilicu

to carve a little hole in your skin,

kako bi izdubio malu rupu u vašoj koži

allowing it to probe around with its proboscis,

i tako čačkao okolo

koristeći svoje rilo,

tražeći krvni sud.

searching for a blood vessel.

When it hits one, the lucky parasite can suck

Kada ga nađe,

srećni parazit može da isisa

dva do tri puta svoje težine u krvi.

two to three times its weight in blood.

Turns out we don't really like that too much.

Ispostavlja se da mi to baš i ne volimo.

In fact, humans hate mosquitos so much

Zapravo, ljudi toliko mrze komarce

that we spend billions of dollars worldwide

da trošimo milijarde dolara širom sveta

to keep them away from us --

kako bsmoi ih oterali od sebe -

from citronella candles

od citronela sveća, sprejeva protiv insekata

to bug sprays to heavy-duty agricultural pesticides.

do štetnih poljoprivrednih pesticida.

But it's not just that mosquitos are annoying,

Ali komarci nisu samo iritantni,

they're also deadly.

već i smrtonosni.

Mosquitos can transmit everything from malaria to yellow fever

Komarci mogu da prenesu sve

od malarije do žute groznice,

to West Nile virus to dengue.

virusa Zapadnog Nila

do tropske groznice.

Over a million people worldwide

Preko milion ljudi širom sveta

die every year from mosquito-borne diseases,

svake godine umre od bolesti prenetih komarcima,

and that's just people.

a to su samo ljudi.

Horses, dogs, cats,

Konji, psi, mačke,

they can all get diseases from mosquitoes too.

svi oni mogu da se zaraze preko komaraca.

So, if these bugs are so dastardly, why don't we just get rid of them?

Ako su ovi insekti tako podmukli,

zašto ih se jednostavno ne otarasimo?

We are humans after all,

Ipak smo ljudi,

and we're pretty good at getting rid of species.

a mi smo prilično dobri u istrebljivanju vrsta.

Pa, to nije tako jednostavno.

Well, it's not quite so simple.

Getting rid of the mosquito removes a food source

Istrebljivanje komaraca

značilo bi nestajanje izvora hrane

for lots of organisms, like frogs and fish and birds.

za dosta organizama

poput žaba, riba i ptica.

Without them, plants would lose a pollinator.

Bez njih, biljke bi izgubile oprašivača.

But some scientists say

Ali naučnici navode

that mosquitos aren't actually all that important.

da komarci nisu zapravo tako bitni.

If we got rid of them, they argue,

Kako kažu, ako ih se otarasimo,

another species would simply take their place

druga vrsta bi jednostavno došla na njihovo mesto

and we'd probably have far fewer deaths from malaria.

i verovatno bismo imali dosta manje smrti od malarije.

The problem is that nobody knows what would happen

Problem je u tome

što niko ne zna šta bi se desilo

if we killed off all the mosquitos.

kada bismo ubili sve komarce.

Something better might take their spot

Nešto bolje bi možda zauzelo njihovo mesto

or perhaps something even worse.

ili možda čak nešto još gore.

The question is, are we willing to take that risk?

Pitanje je sledeće,

da li smo spremni da preuzmemo taj rizik?

(Buzzing)