History's Deadliest General: How Mosquitoes Shaped the World

We're in the midst of a synchronized global explosion.

Public health agencies warn that mosquito-borne diseases now trigger over 300 million clinical cases annually as little buzzy populations surge worldwide.

F*** us.

The primary driver is a thermal Goldilocks zone.

When temperatures hover between 77 and 90 degrees Fahrenheit, mosquito larvae mature at warp speed.

Simultaneously, the viruses inside them incubate twice as fast, turning a single insect into a hyper-efficient viral transmitter in under a week.

Yeah.

And by the way, they can breed in as little as a soda bottle cap full of water.

You just refuse to use the metric system.

Warming climates and rapid urbanization have shattered historical geographic boundaries.

South America is battling historic record-shattering dengue outbreaks, while invasive Aedes species have successfully migrated north, establishing permanent breeding footholds across southern Europe and into Canada.

From local backyards to the equator to oddly early West Nile virus detections right here in Los Angeles, the planet has effectively become a massive

mosquito incubator.

Well, technically, the planet's an incubator of everything that we know.

I don't mean to be pedantic.

Too late.

Thank you.

These tiny

creatures have wielded more power over human destiny than the greatest military generals in history.

Mosquitoes effortlessly survived the very asteroid impact that wiped out the dinosaurs.

But more importantly, they are the undisputed deadliest animals on Earth.

I feel like this is a scale problem.

If you had hundreds of millions of rhinoceroses, those would be more deadly, I think, than the mosquitoes.

Hey, what happened to Tim? Oh, sad story on the way to work.

Rhinoceros.