The gene engineering technology they are using could, in just a few generations – a matter of months when it comes to mosquitoes – make every member of the species that transmits malaria here, the Anopheles coluzzii, effectively immune to the parasite.
We need a Final Solution to the mosquito question, not this hogwash
For what it’s worth, DARPA has been working on eliminating malaria carrying mosquitos specifically this in mind. Mosquitos make up a large percentage of the diet of bats, it’s true, but malaria carrying mosquitos only make up a small portion of that, primarily in areas where the disease is most prevalent.
It shouldn’t have any effect other than the genetic elimination of a disease carrying pest. It won’t affect mosquitoes getting you in the summertime because our mosquitoes aren’t the focus of this project.
Mosquitos don’t really make up a large portion of bat diets. That myth came from a study years back when scientists were trying to figure out how bats located prey not what prey did bats target
They study involved releasing a bat into a room filled solely with mosquitos, and it ate a lot of them, but that’s because it was easy to do since it was a room loaded with mosquitos, and it was the only option for food that the bat had.
The media ran with it screaming “bats can eat a hundred mosquitos an hour!” Because it made a catchy headline moreso than the actual study results.
Mosquitos make up less than 3% of a bats diet, depending on the species it can be higher though.
Bats typically prefer to eat larger insects such as moths, since it’s more calories for the effort and they are slower and easier to find than mosquitos.