The Mighty Mosquitoes of Alaska: A Pound for Pound Powerhouse.
Alaska is home to at least 27 species of mosquitoes, with the "snow mosquito" Culiseta alaskaeensis being a thumbnail-sized insect that hibernates until spring. Female mosquitoes follow trails of carbon dioxide and body odor to draw a blood meal, which helps make their eggs viable. Derek Sikes, curator of insects at the University of Alaska Museum of the North, once calculated that about 17 trillion mosquitoes hover over Alaska each summer, with a combined weight of 96 million pounds.