Jack Tame: The world’s deadliest creatures have reached the last country on Earth

It was such a rookie mistake.  

I was tramping in the Kahurangi, last summer. The Douglas Range, 1000m above sea level. And after we’d pitched a tent, as the sun got heavy and the surrounding hills cast their shadows long and deep, I realised I’d screwed up, big time.  

Zzzzzz. Zzzzzz. Zzzzzz.  

What made the error so much worse was that it wasn’t a bit of absent-minded forgetfulness. I’d carefully considered my options before loading my pack. It wasn’t that I’d forgotten to bring long johns or pants. It’s that I’d *chosen* not to pack them. Up top I had a poly-prop, jumper and jacket. But down bottom I had shorts… and that was it.  

Zzzzz. Zzzzzzzz.  

The only way to keep sandflies from biting is to keep moving. And the last thing you feel like doing after 8 or 10 hours of steady climbing… is keep moving. As if to wallow in my own stupidity, I ended up treading a middle ground. Moving just enough so as not to rest, but not enough to stop the sandflies from completely devouring me.  

Still, I’ve had worse experiences with them. I’ll not forget my night at the mouth of the Heaphy River, where the swarms were so thick they hung in the skies like pockets of buzzing black smoke. Walking by, you had to make sure to close your mouth so as not to catch a bit of extra protein.  

And you know what? I’d still take a sandfly over a biting gnat. I once chose to visit one of Utah’s national parks on a Sunday in the middle of biting gnat season. The locals call them ‘moose flies’ which I suppose could be cos’ they hang around moose, or just as feasibly in my experience because the gnats are a comparable size.  It wasn’t just the itching that killed me, though. My bare legs were soon covered in blood. I returned to Salt Lake City to discover every pharmacy closed for the rest of the weekend and spent the night lying in a tepid bath, trying to stave off shock.  

Often it’s the obvious downside to natural beauty. If it’s a beautiful natural landscape… there will be something that’ll give you an itchy bite. 

At least there’s one place on Earth you could still safely wear shorts. 

Sure, you might be a bit nippy striding down the streets of Reykjavik in your stubbies, but at the very least you could be sure there were no sandflies. There were no biting gnats. No midges. No moose flies. No mozzies.  

That was at least, until this week.  

Scientists have confirmed that for the first time, the World’s deadliest creature has reached the last country on Earth. Iceland officially has mosquitoes.  

And while sure, Iceland is not the Amazon. They’re not at risk of a Dengue Fever outbreak, You can still safely leave the Deet at home.  

The truth is that the discover probably represents more than just an ecological quirk.  

At an individual level, sure, it’s a potential nuisance. But what confirming mosquitoes in Iceland says about the state of the planet is probably far more serious. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:07):
You're listening to the Saturday Morning with Jack Team podcast
from News Talks at Me.

Speaker 2 (00:12):
It was such a rookie mistake. I was tramping in
the Kahudangi last summer. The Douglas ranged one thousand or
maybe twelve hundred meters above sea level, and after we'd
pitched a tent, as the sun got heavy and the
surrounding hills cast their shadows long and deep, I realized
that I had screwed up big time. What made the

(00:38):
ear so much worse was that it wasn't a bit
of absent minded forgetfulness on my part. I had carefully
considered my options before loading my pack. It wasn't that
I'd forgotten to bring long John's or pants. It's that
I'd chosen not to pack them. Up top, I had

(00:58):
a polyprop jumper and jacket, but down bottom I had
shorts and nothing else. Of course, the only way to
keep sandflies from biting is to keep moving, and the
last thing you feel like doing after eight or ten

(01:18):
hours of steady climbing is keep moving, as if to
wallow in my own stupidity, I ended up treading a
middle ground, moving just enough so as not to rest,
but not enough to stop the sandflies from completely devouring
my calves. Still, I have had worse experiences with them.

(01:39):
I'll not forget my night at the mouth of the
Heathy River, where the swarms of sandflies were so thick
they hung in the skies like pockets of buzzing black smoke.
Walking by, you had to make sure to close your
mouth so as not to catch a little bit of
extra protein on your way. And you know what, I
would still take a sandfly over a biting gnat. I

(02:03):
once chose to visit one of Utah's parks on a Sunday,
right in the middle of biting nat season. The locals
call them moose flies, which I suppose could be because
they hang around moose, or just as feasibly in my experience,
because the gnats are a comparable size. It wasn't just

(02:24):
the itching that killed me, though my bare legs were
soon covered in blood from all of their bites. I
returned to Salt Lake City to discover every pharmacy closed
for the rest of the weekend, and spent the night
lying in a tepid bath trying to stave off shock.
Often it's the obvious downside to natural beauty. If it's

(02:46):
a beautiful natural landscape, there will be something that will
give you an itchy bite. At least there is one
place on Earth you could still safely wear shorts. Sure,
you might be a bit nippy striding down the streets
of Raykovic in your studies, but at the very least
you could be sure there were no sandflies, no biting gnats,

(03:08):
no midges, no moose flies, and no mozzies. That was,
at least until this week. Scientists have confirmed that for
the first time, the world's deadliest creature has reached the
last country on Earth. Iceland officially has mosquitoes, and while

(03:31):
sure Iceland is not the Amazon, they're not at risk
of a dingy fever outbreak anytime soon. You can still
safely leave the deep at home. The truth is the
discovery probably represents more than just an ecological quirk. At
an individual level, sure is a potential nuisance, especially for

(03:53):
those of us who like wearing shorts, but what confirming
mosquitos and Iceland says about the state of the planet
is probably far far more serious.

Speaker 1 (04:04):
For more from Saturday Morning with Jack, listen live to
News Talks at b from nine am Saturday or follow
the podcast on iHeartRadio