• Question: why do midges bite humans and not animals

    Asked by to Andrei, Ekbal, Gemma, Helen, Ruth on 16 Jun 2014. This question was also asked by .
    • Photo: Gemma Marsden

      Gemma Marsden answered on 16 Jun 2014:

      Hi sinclairm,
      There are many species of midge (150 known species in the UK!) and only 5 species are known to bite humans. Some midges bite livestock and humans.
      Some humans (including me!) get bitten a lot more than other people and nobody is sure why. It could be that a person that gets bitten more just reacts to the bite (may be an allergic reaction?) but other things such as gender, height and weight all appear to change how likely you are to be bitten! Also how attractive you are to midges seems to be hereditary!
      Humans also appear to give off certain odours that attract midges and the amount of odour we release will vary person to person.
      Gemma
      Gemma

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