How mosquitoes choose their prey and what you need to know

WATCH: A Halifax zoologist explains there are three main qualities a mosquito looks at before it chooses its prey. Julia Wong has more.

HALIFAX – As summer gets into full swing, many people are spending their time outside and some of them are falling prey to mosquitoes.

The pesky insects are attracted to three qualities in humans, according to a Halifax zoologist.

Andrew Hebda, zoologist at the Museum of Natural History, said mosquitoes choose their prey based on heat, carbon dioxide and lactic acid.

“The mosquito magnets are people who…are hotter,” he said.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "The mosquito magnets are people who…are hotter," he said.

“Some people are indeed just that little bit hotter, perhaps a quarter or a half a centigrade warmer in body temperature. So of course in a whole crowd, you’re the one that’s going to stand out as a better choice.”

Hebda said the second attractive quality is how much carbon dioxide, which is a product of respiration, a prey produces.

He said the insects are inclined towards those who breathe out a high quantity of carbon dioxide.

“You get flustered. You start generating a bit more carbon dioxide,” he said.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "You get flustered. You start generating a bit more carbon dioxide," he said.

The third quality is the amount of lactic acid, which builds up in the body after working out, produced.

“They can detect the concentration of this on the skin because we actually have some of it come through the skin. When you have a lot of lactic acid, you have a lot of muscle activity and you have a lot of blood vessels,” he said.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "They can detect the concentration of this on the skin because we actually have some of it come through the skin. When you have a lot of lactic acid, you have a lot of muscle activity and you have a lot of blood vessels," he said.

However, Hebda said residents shouldn’t admit defeat to mosquitoes or stop working out and expending energy. He said the key to keeping the insects away is staying cool.

Dr. Robin Taylor, the medical officer of health for the Nova Scotia Health Authority, said there are also some tangible things people can do.

“We can’t change who we are but we can change what we’re wearing,” she said.

“Even if mosquitoes do find you really tasty, making sure you’re wearing light-coloured clothes, not wearing perfumes, that’s going to help.”

She said people can also avoid mosquitoes by using mosquito repellant and carefully picking when they are outside, adding mosquitoes tend to enjoy dusk.

Taylor also recommends emptying things that could collect standing water, such as flower pots, which is where mosquitoes breed.