Page 151 - Engineering in Nature

Harun Yahya

THE WORLD'S THINNEST FEEDING TUBE
For a female mosquito, it's vitally important to be able to suck
blood very quickly. Her suction system must therefore be 100% com-
patible with the structure of her host's blood.
Unlike most liquids, blood changes its viscosity ac-
cording to the diameter of the tube through which it
flows. In wide tubes, the alluvia can move easily
since they are randomly distributed in the liquid
plasma. Yet in minute tubes smaller than a tenth
of a millimeter across, the viscosity of blood
starts to increase. In tubes of that size, the red
blood cells flatten out and concentrate in the mid-
dle of the tube. In tubes smaller than a hundredth of Red blood cells
a millimeter in diameter, the viscosity of the blood reaches
its highest level, because the diameter of the blood cells has ap-
proached that of the tube itself. Sucking blood has become as difficult
as sucking peas through a straw.
Creatures that feed by sucking blood display a most surprising
compatibility. The feeding tubes of mosquitoes and other blood-suck-
ing creatures never falls below one hundredth of a millimeter in di-

Adnan Oktar

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