Through the Eyes of a Mosquito

Did you ever wonder how mosquitoes can find you at night when there is no light to see you? Are there so many of them out there that you "bump" into them and therefore they don't have to see you?

Even though it may feel like you are bumping into them, mosquitoes actually navigate to you by following your trail of carbon dioxide (CO2) that you are exhaling and then "seeing" your heat signature when they get in closer proximity. This heat signature tells them that you are a warm blooded host and a candidate for a meal.

Thanks to the technology of FLIR Systems™, we can see thermal heat patterns through the eyes of an infrared camera. Colors in the infrared image show varying levels of heat. The darker the color, the colder the object is. Even at night, a warm object will look very visible. This is why their technology is used in law enforcement and military operations.

The ability of a mosquito to see infrared radiation gives it an advantage as she can hunt in the cool of night, under the cover of darkness, and still be able to navigate to a potential host.

The Backyard AVENGER™ uses this ability of the female mosquito in a most efficient way. By creating a heat pattern that has the right thermal profile and locating it such that the only way to get to it is through an electrified grid, her options are limited!

Click on the image below and watch the thermal patterns change on the Backyard AVENGER™ (8mb AVI)

Notice that the Backyard AVENGER™ is optimized for the chemical and the heat sensing abilities of the female mosquito. All of the mosquito "lures" are focused behind the 204 square inches of "killing zone".

Because the Backyard AVENGER™ rhythimically operates, these thermal patterns change throughout the cycle.

As you can see from the thermal image of the Backyard AVENGER™ above, the temperatures are very similiar the the thermal image of Kyle Mckibben above. The electric grids which surround the inside of the Backyard AVENGER™ almost look thermally like an array of blood vessels.

Propane traps on the market are not efficient from this perspective because there is too much heat which has to be released in the burning of the propane to get the desired amount of CO2. As a result of this heat of combustion, the heat cannot be precisely focused. Additionally, it cannot be set up to rhythmically operate. While these propane-based traps do have a thermal image, there is no specific killing zone that combines the heat and chemical cues to focus the mosquitoes' attention. We have seen units with more mosquitoes resting all over the unit than in the dehydration net.

Thermal image of a top of the line propane-based trap

According to the temperature indicator located on the unit, this thermal image was taken at the unit's operating temperature. Notice that all of the heat is generated where the propane is being burned. Where does the mosquito focus its attention?

Thermal image of mosquito trap and person standing behind it.

You can see that this device is not optimized for using the mosquito's sense of heat. The "killing zone" is identified by the red arrow in the thermal image. How does that compare with the thermal target of the Backyard AVENGER™?

Wizard Innovations, LLC gives credit to Flir Systems™, Michael and Kyle Mckibben for the thermal image contributions to this web page.