--- title: Global Warming Helps Giant Arctic Mosquitoes Thrive description: Warmer global temperatures are causing the mosquitos to emerge earlier and grow larger, researchers at Dartmouth found. canonical: https://time.com/4038596/global-warming-arctic-mosquitoes/ author: Tessa Berenson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-09-17T15:39:25.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T11:02:06.380Z article:section: Science og:title: Global Warming Helps Giant Arctic Mosquitos Thrive og:description: Climate change is a boon for bloodsuckers og:url: https://time.com/4038596/global-warming-arctic-mosquitoes/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdff89ad9243deab7/69886412a988ca9a6a6b461d/arctic-mosquitos.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Arctic Mosquitos og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Global Warming Helps Giant Arctic Mosquitos Thrive twitter:description: Climate change is a boon for bloodsuckers twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdff89ad9243deab7/69886412a988ca9a6a6b461d/arctic-mosquitos.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # These Giant Arctic Bloodsuckers Are Thriving On Global Warming ## Video: Overstepping Boundaries: The Danger of Invasive Species [Watch (HLS stream): Overstepping Boundaries: The Danger of Invasive Species](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/zHyAT7e9.m3u8) (2:18)  _Published 2013-12-04. What are invasive species, and why are they dangerous? TIME's Bryan Walsh explains how animals like the Asian carp, lionfish, and Burmese python can be a threat._  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Sep 17, 2015 3:39 PM UTC  A Dartmouth photos shows mosquitoes in this image released on Sept. 15, 2015. A Dartmouth photos shows mosquitoes in this image released on Sept. 15, 2015.Lauren Culler—REUTERS  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Sep 17, 2015 3:39 PM UTC There are a lot of environmental changes occurring as the planet warms: melting ice caps, rising sea levels, heat waves, you name it. But perhaps the most terrifying of all is that climate change is boosting swarms of giant arctic mosquitoes. The warmer temperatures are causing the mosquitoes to emerge earlier and grow larger, [researchers at Dartmouth found](http://dickey.dartmouth.edu/news-events/arctic-mosquitoes-thriving-under-climate-change). This could hurt the caribou population the insects feed on by forcing the animals to spend more time avoiding the insects and less time raising their young or storing nutrients for the winter. “Arctic mosquitoes’ reproductive success depends on the females finding a blood meal, which is expected to increase because warming more closely synchronizes their life cycle with caribou calving,” the Dartmouth press release explains. “The calving season benefits mosquitoes by giving them a larger, less mobile herd to feed on, including vulnerable calves.” Average temperatures in the Arctic have increased at twice the global rate in the past 100 years, and this study predicts that if temperatures in the region rise 2 degrees Celsius, the mosquitoes’ probability of survival will increase by more than 50%. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4038596/global-warming-arctic-mosquitoes/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4038596/global-warming-arctic-mosquitoes/"},"headline":"These Giant Arctic Bloodsuckers Are Thriving On Global Warming","datePublished":"2015-09-17T15:39:25.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T11:02:06.380Z","description":"Climate change is a boon for mosquitoes","url":"https://time.com/4038596/global-warming-arctic-mosquitoes/","keywords":["Environment","climate change"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdff89ad9243deab7/69886412a988ca9a6a6b461d/arctic-mosquitos.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Tessa Berenson","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdff89ad9243deab7/69886412a988ca9a6a6b461d/arctic-mosquitos.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Arctic Mosquitos","caption":"Arctic Mosquitos","creditText":"Lauren Culler—REUTERS","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/science/","name":"Science"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/environment/","name":"Environment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4038596/global-warming-arctic-mosquitoes/","name":"These Giant Arctic Bloodsuckers Are Thriving On Global Warming"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Overstepping Boundaries: The Danger of Invasive Species","description":"What are invasive species, and why are they dangerous? 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