• UraniumBlazer@lemm.ee
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    3 months ago

    Serious question: Has any culture tried breeding these guys to keep mosquitoes at bay? Something like how people kept cats around to reduce the population of mice?

    • shalafi@lemmy.world
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      3 months ago

      Interesting question! I’d guess, however you do it, you could only achieve a temporary uptick in the population. Like any other predator/prey relationship, the ecosystem can only support X predators. After all, the ancient Egyptians could only have so many cats around until they ran out of mice.

      Be a pain to breed. They stay underwater as nymphs for 2 years, and that’s 2 years where you gotta keep them from being someone else’s lunch.

    • NeatNit
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      3 months ago

      They’re not cute like cats, so I guess no.