About Mosquitoes (Listen & Read Along)

There are more than two thousand different kinds of mosquitoes. Female mosquitoes bite people to drink their blood. Male mosquitoes do not drink blood. They drink fluids from plants. The female mosquito uses its thin sucking tube to break the skin, find blood and inject the victim with a substance that keeps blood flowing.

The female mosquito drinks the blood and uses it to produce as many as two hundred fifty eggs. The insect leaves the eggs in any standing water.

The eggs produce worm-like creatures called larvae in two days to a few months. However, some eggs can stay in water for years until conditions are right for development. The larvae feed on organisms in the water. After four to ten days, they change again, into creatures called pupas. The pupas rise to the surface of the water. Adult mosquitoes pull themselves out of the pupas and fly away.

The World Health Organization says mosquitoes carry organisms that cause disease and death for millions of people throughout the world. The most important disease spread by mosquitoes is malaria.

You can read the complete story and download the MP3 file at this URL:
http://www.voanews.com/specialenglish/2009-05-25-voa3.cfm?renderforprint=1