Mosquitoes, mosquitoes everywhere!
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Those brown specks are skeeters
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By Jack Hamann
Special to CNN.com
While others worried about big bears or blown tires, I focused my tundra tension on something considerably smaller: biting bugs.
University of Florida researcher Jerry Butler says that mosquitoes cannot manufacture cholesterol and B vitamins on their own. When female mosquitoes go searching for blood, they zero in on those who exude the most of those substances.
I must really exude, because I was a magnet for the winged villains.
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The Arctic tundra is flush with the key ingredients for million mosquito marches: lots of sunshine and plenty of stagnant water. Unfortunately, the tundra is deficient in warm-blooded animals. Some studies suggest that the little bloodsuckers can detect carbon dioxide and other exhaled human odors from as far as forty miles away. Step outside, and you're a magnet.
Seeking the wisdom of a tundra native, I turned to Max Kotokak, an Inuit living in Tuktoyak, and asked: Did mosquitoes bother him? "Of, course," he replied, with a look of tolerance. His safeguard against them? "Stay inside."
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Gore-Tex helps ... a little
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There are less draconian measures available:
Be aware that mosquitoes in the Arctic are at their peak in late June and early July. By September, most are gone, but pockets remain depending on local climate and temperature.
Remember that the wind is your friend. Even a slight breeze sends mosquitoes scurrying.
The bugs are worse during dawn and dusk. That's a real problem in summer, when the sun never really sets for weeks on end, and there twilight lingers long after 8 p.m.
Most mosquitoes are attracted by perspiration, but are apparently even more attracted to certain antiperspirants, soaps, creams and cosmetics. The more neutral you smell, the better.
A lot of Arctic residents wear special jackets, hoods and pants. Gore-Tex is an effective barrier, and not terribly hot during the surprisingly warm summer days. I brought along a head net, but my ego got in the way and I never wore it.
There are bug sprays. I had great luck with a product called Controlled Release DEET Formula by a company called Sawyer. Deet is the active ingredient in nearly all chemical repellents. Physicians are concerned anytime we pour toxic chemicals directly on our skin, so the new product is less than 20 percent Deet, and relies on a different technology.
While my the concoction worked well for mosquitoes, it did little to repel black flies, which begin their flesh-ripping season in late July and early August. In desperate moments, I remembered the old native's advice: Stay inside.
If you'd like to ask Jack Hamann a question about his trip, send him an email at cnnjack@aol.com
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