Springtime is about a month away, and summer will be here before we know it. In Los Angeles, both seasons invite people to enjoy the great outdoors and bask in the sun. Summertime brings those warm summer nights.
Which bring bugs, and all kinds of other critters and wildlife. In the spring, you might see more coyotes — mating season means they’ll be hunting more. Owners of cats and tiny dogs beware! Urban coyotes are pros at surviving, especially when they have more mouths to feed.
Warmer months mean mosquito season, and yet again trying to find ways to prevent getting those itchy bug bites.
So, how does one ward off unwanted house guests?
Who We Spoke To
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- Michael Beran, owner, Wildlife Command Center in St. Louis
- Anandasankar Ray, molecular cell and systems biology professor, University of California, Riverside
Mosquitoes and other flying pests
There are more than 3,500 species of mosquitoes, but only about 20 bite humans, according to Anandasankar Ray, a molecular cell and systems biology professor at the University of California at Riverside.
Another fun fact: only female mosquitoes bite.
Over the last two to three years, as my colleague Caitlin Hernandez has covered, Southern California has experienced a growing problem with mosquitoes. Ray says that’s because there are two new species of mosquitoes breeding and spreading in the region: Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus.
The Aedes mosquitoes, or “ankle-biters,” are day-biting mosquitoes.The invasive Aedes species began…
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