If you are asleep in a pitch-dark room at midnight, a mosquito can find you easily. Even if your whole body is under the covers with only your hand sticking out, the mosquito will instantly find that piece of flesh and take blood from that source. Even though the subject is one that is distasteful and which people may not wish to give thought to, we must still ask how this animal manages to do this. What is the secret that enables it to seize its prey in the dark?

The answer reveals another superior design to us: The mosquito is equipped with a complex system that enables it to find its prey. This system consists of receptors sensitive to heat, gas and various chemical substances. By this means the mosquito can easily identify its prey in the dark.

One of the mosquito’s receptors is heat-sensitive. It perceives the heat given off by bodies.

The use of heat-sensitive receptors is a somewhat effective method that is frequently used nowadays in military technology, particularly in the dark. A very sensitive heat receptor is also found in the body of the mosquito. This organ, known as the "tarsi," is located in the forelegs of the mosquito. When these organs detect the heat waves coming from a body, the mosquito is drawn by them and reaches its target unerringly. Furthermore, thanks to this heat detector, it can easily find the regions under the skin where there is the most blood, as veins are warmer than tissue.

In other words, a mosquito entering a pitch-dark bedroom can accurately perceive the exposed parts of a sleeping person's body, even to the point of finding the veins close to the skin.

Another factor that attracts the mosquito is carbon dioxide gas. This gas present in the breath of humans and animals is particularly attractive to mosquitoes and serves as an important clue in the finding of prey. In an experiment to show the effect of carbon dioxide on mosquitoes, two humanoid models were placed two metres (6.5 feet) apart. Then carbon dioxide was emitted at breathing pace by means of a mechanism installed in the mouths of the models. Immediately mosquitoes began circling the heads of the models.

The cocktail of amino acids, amines, ammonia and lactic acid found in the blood also attracts the mosquito; even when the concentration of these substances is diluted 2,000 times, the liquid is 5 times more attractive to mosquitoes than pure water. Moisture is another important factor to attract mosquitoes.

In short, the mosquito is like a warplane loaded with heat, gas, humidity and smell detectors. Even if it cannot see its prey in the dark, it is equipped with superior systems for unerringly finding it in the dark. It can identify the location of its prey from a distance of approximately 25 to 30 metres (82-98 feet).

Any creature within a maximum range of 30 metres (98 feet) can fall victim to a mosquito. Above left there t is a mosquito biting a fox on the nose. Above right, mosquitoes drink the blood of a frog from around the eyes.

It is obvious that such a special structure cannot be formed as the result of a chain of coincidences. Let's examine the impossibility of this.

We know that the female mosquito needs to suck blood from her victims to satisfy the protein needs of the eggs. In order to obtain this blood it is necessary to find a victim.

If we take the claims of evolutionary theory seriously, the perceptive skills of the mosquito detailed above must have been acquired in stages. But the mosquito doesn't have the time to wait thousands of years for its body to acquire a heat receptor by chance. If it didn't have this system of perception from the beginning, the mosquito would not find its prey and the eggs would die. That is to say, it is not a question of development over time.

Let's repeat once more the receptors possessed by the mosquito; heat, humidity, gas and chemical substance receptor systems. And in addition to these, vibration feelers for perceiving the opposite sex.

The fact that a mosquito is equipped with such an effective receptive system means that its needs are catered for from the first phase of its development. The Creator of this perfect system Who brought the mosquito into existence is God. Just as God has provided for every living thing on Earth, He has also given them the necessary skills and equipped them to make use of this provision. This fact is made known as follows in a verse of the Qur'an:

There is no creature on the Earth which is not dependent upon God for its provision. He knows where it lives and where it dies. They are all recorded in a Glorious Book. (Qur'an, 11:6)