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Ok, there aren’t Mosquitoes this big in real life, but they are officially the deadliest creatures on the planet. Because the diseases they carry kill more people than any other single thing. Female Mosquitoes, that’s right, just females hunt down humans and animals by the smell of their breath. When they find a group of people, like these guys in the car, they’ll usually chose just one member of the group to feed on. Scary! See that stinger? That’s the Mosquito's proboscis or nose. When a female Mosquito has jammed that into your skin, it wriggles it around to find a blood vessel. That’s right, these ladies want to fill their bellies with your blood. Yuck!
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Mosquitoes are small, midge-like flies that constitute the family Culicidae. Females of most species are ectoparasites, whose tube-like mouthparts (called a proboscis) pierce the hosts' skin to consume blood. In the jungles of "JUMANJI" , Mosquitoes are much larger than their real-world counterparts, that survive by feasting on the blood of animals by perceiving the skin with their sharp probes to suck out a meal while passing on high fevers leading to rashes and violent seizures.

Behaviour

Jumanji Mosquito Mother

A giant Mosquito mother attacks her offspring's murderers.

Mosquitoes feed on the blood of various kinds of hosts, mainly vertebrates, including mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and even some kinds of fish. Some Mosquitoes also attack invertebrates, mainly other arthropods. Female Mosquitoes hunt down humans and animals by the smell of their breath. When they find a group of people they’ll usually choose just one member of the group to feed on. When a female Mosquito has jammed the sharp proboscis mouth into the skin, it wriggles it around to find a blood vessel and fill their bellies with blood. Though the loss of blood is seldom of any importance to the victim, the saliva of the Mosquito often causes an irritating rash that is a serious nuisance.

In the realm of "JUMANJI", Mosquitoes vary in size but are nevertheless as dangerous as their real-world counterparts, due to the jungle diseases passed on from their bites which will lead to fevers, rashes, seizures or even death. Mothers are very protective of their offspring and will react violently in vengeance against anything that kills their young.

Books

In the original picture book, the Mosquito's role is filled by a Tsetse fly. After one of his dice rolls land his piece on the square reading: "Bitten by Tsetse fly, contract sleeping sickness. Lose one turn". Peter is then bitten by a Tsetse fly that sends him into a deep sleep, however, he wakes up in time to avoid the stampede of Rhinoceros.

Films

Jumanji Riddle

The game's riddle.

In the 1995 film, after discovering Jumanji in the Parrish Mansion's attic, Judy Shepherd's first dice roll releases a swarm of "JUMANJI" Mosquitoes that attack the kids. Judy uses a tennis racket to send one of them flying out the window, where the other two insects retreat outside into Brantford. Explored more closely in the Novel, the town of Brantford is slowly overcome by the sudden outbreaks of fevers, rashes, and seizures caused by mosquito bites, with numbers of victims climbing over 90.

After visiting the graves of Sam and Carol Parrish, Alan Parrish and the kids start to head back to the Mansion before witnessing a car crash caused by the driver having been bitten. The ambulance team carried the frozen woman out, allowing Alan and the kids to take her car back to the Mansion, before being attacked by a lone Mosquito, persistently trying to reach them inside.

Once Alan Parrish's Token finally reaches the board game's crystal ball and calls out the name: "JUMANJI", all the Mosquitoes and other animals were pulled back into the game's dimension and everything from the altered timeline was undone.

In the 2017 film, Mosquitoes appear closer to their actual real-world size as minor nuisances, although bites from Mosquitoes are fatal to the character avatar Seaplane McDonough, so he would instinctively lit citronella candles around the Parrish Treehouse to protect himself from any and make margaritas as an effective repellent. He eventually ends up being bitten by one after the group leave the gorge, which starts to use up his last remaining life and result in Alex as Seaplane McDonough's permanent death until Bethany as Professor Shelly Oberon gives him CPR with one of her spare lives to save him.

In the closing credits, an illustration of a Mosquito appears next to costumer designer, Laura Jean Shannon's credits.

Media

Jumanji: the Curse Returns

Fabio-ferreira-mosquito-tpose copy

"CR-Giant Mosquito"

In Jumanji: the Curse Returns, In Jumanji: the Curse Returns, based on the 1995 film, the Mosquitoes are one of the main dangers, the game has unleashed, and just like the movie, come in a group when four players can face, if either of four players roll the dice for a mosquito battle. When a dice roll summons this Battle, a swarm of Giant Mosquitoes will appear out of thing air and any of the four players would choose an item to strike the mosquitoes. When the health bars are out, the mosquitoes will disappear back into the game.

Board Game

  • Secret symbol: Racquet
  • Number: 3
In the Milton Bradley board game, the Mosquito has its own danger card. Rolling a Racquet on the rescue die within 3 seconds will defeat the Mosquito threat.

Animated Series

Mosquito Caught

Judy and Peter catch a Mosquito.

Mosquitoes appear in the animated series, just as enormous as they are in the 1995 film. Despite being a common threat, Manjis are known to use them in medicinal purposes as seen the episode Gift, when Alan is bitten by a centipede that injected venom into his body that will eventually reach his heart and kill him, urging Judy and Peter to search desperately for a cure without success until Tribal Bob plants a Mosquito wooden carving in Peter's hair, giving the kids the hint that a Mosquito is a key to their problem. Using his transformed frog form, Peter and Judy catch a Mosquito and take it back to Alan to suck the venom out of his body before it kills him. Before Judy can read Alan's clue projection within the water, the Mosquito sucks the venom out but then crashes through the image, destroying it just before they can get the clue.

References

  1. The Extreme Book of Nature
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