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"Mosquito Dragon" is the 4th episode of Season 3 of Wild Kratts, originally airing on PBS Kids on July 25, 2014. Overall, it is the 70th episode of the series. The episode was written and directed by Chris Kratt. On July 21, 2014, “Crocogator Contest”, along with “Mosquito Dragon”, first aired in a Wild Kratts special called Swamp Things.
In this episode, after they get bitten by mosquitoes, the Wild Kratts decide to find out the reason why mosquitoes suck blood. Meanwhile, Zach Varmitech comes up with another villainous plan, this time by using "Mosquito-bots" to hack into the Tortuga's main computers.
Plot[]
The episode begins with a live-action segment. The Kratt brothers travel around the cypress swamps while talking about mosquitoes. Afterward, they ask their "What if?" question, and the show transitions into the cartoon segment.
The Wild Kratts are traveling across a river in the cypress swamps of Florida when they all get stung by mosquitoes. Chris stops the hovercraft and Martin begins digging through his backpack to find mosquito repellant. However, the other Wild Kratts members are too desperate to wait for Martin to dig past the seemingly endless stream of junk coming out of his backpack, so they return to the Tortuga HQ. This incident inspires the Kratt brothers to find out why mosquitoes suck blood. Meanwhile, Zach Varmitech attempts to hack into the computers of the Tortuga, when a mosquito bites him. Knowing that mosquitoes steal blood, Zach gets the idea to make mosquito-inspired robots to steal data stored on the Tortuga's computers.
The Kratt brothers miniaturize and enter the water, where they find mosquito larvae floating on the surface and eating algae. They call Aviva and tell her that blood does not play a role in the mosquito's larva stage. Then a mysterious creature swoops past them, eats a mosquito larva, and disappears into the water. Meanwhile, Aviva finds out that the female mosquitoes are the ones that drink blood (male mosquitoes drink plant sap). Aviva gets into the hovercraft and chases a mosquito that recently drank blood. She bumps into Martin, who rides along with her. Chris, now alone, gets cornered up a branch by the "swamp monster".
Aviva launches Martin up into the air so he can ride the mosquito, but he instead falls into a puddle in a cardinal plant. The mosquito then starts laying eggs on the surface of the puddle. Martin scans the back of its abdomen and finds out that the blood the mosquito drank is used to make eggs – the reason why mosquitoes suck blood.
Chris finds out the swamp monster is a dragonfly nymph after a dragonfly emerges from its body. Later, Koki informs Martin and Aviva that a storm is heading their way. But it's not a storm, it's a swarm. Up in the sky, the Kratt brothers see Zach Varmitech's swarm of "Mosquito-bots" flying towards the Tortuga. Martin is able to destroy one, but there is a whole swarm that he has to destroy and he doesn't know what the Mosquito-bots are built for. Aviva scans it and realizes that Zach is trying to steal all the information from every computer in the Tortuga. Martin calls Koki and Jimmy and tells them to escape the swarm of Mosquito-bots, and Jimmy, who is frightened, starts the Tortuga and flies it away from the swarm. Chris rides the dragonfly as it flies and simultaneously names it Swamp Dragon, who starts eating Mosquito-bots as if they were real mosquitoes. Martin activates his Dragonfly Creature Power Suit to aid Chris in taking down the swarm. About the time the Mosquito-bot swarm completely surrounds the Tortuga and a mosquito-bot enters the Tortuga to suck up its information, which Koki destroys, Zach arrives in his jet and informs Koki that the Tortuga is unable to hide from his mosquito-bots since they are programmed to sense warm air emitted from aircraft engines. However, not long after, Zach's plan backfires due to the fact that his jet engines are "hotter" than that of the Tortuga's, resulting in the mosquito-bots changing course and following Zach's jet instead of the Tortuga. Zach freaks out and flies away, trying to get away from the swarm. In the end, the Wild Kratts summarize their adventure as they resume traveling down the river by hovercraft. Koki and Jimmy start liking mosquitoes, realizing what mosquitoes steal blood for.
The show transitions into the concluding live action segment. The Kratt brothers use nets to sift through the bottom of a creek, taking a close look at the creatures that they have gathered. Afterward, they conclude the episode by saying "Keep on creature adventuring; we'll see you on the creature trail!"
Characters[]
Animals[]
Animation[]
Note: Featured animals are in bold.
- Globe Skimmer (called Dragonfly): Swamp Dragon
- Southern House Mosquito (called Mosquito)
- American Alligator (called Alligator)
- Raccoon
- American Black Bear
- White-tailed Deer
Live Action[]
Note: Live action animals are linked to Wikipedia.
- Osprey
- Virginia opossum
- Asian tiger mosquito (called Mosquito)
- Eastern mosquitofish (called Mosquitofish)
- Crayfish
- Damselfly (nymphs)
- Black-tailed skimmer (called Dragonfly)
Trivia[]
- Before he recognized it as a dragonfly nymph, Chris gave the swamp monster (aka, Swamp Dragon) the name Monsterize swampiferous.
- Jimmy has anti-itch lotion.
- This is the first time blood is seen in the series.
- The teddy bear Martin tosses out of his backpack is actually the Tasmanian Devil stuffed toy that was seen in "Tazzy Chris".
Key Facts and Creature Moments[]
- Male mosquitoes drink sap and nectar from plants, while female mosquitoes drink blood from people and animals using a needle-like proboscis.
- Female mosquitoes drink blood in order to gain enough nutrients and energy to lay their eggs.
- Mosquitoes lay their eggs in stagnant water, which hatch into larvae, turn into pupae and then become flying adult mosquitoes.
- Mosquitoes sense the warm air from carbon dioxide of people and animals to track them down.
- Dragonflies are the top predators of mosquitoes.
- Dragonflies are the fastest flying insects in the world.
- Dragonflies can fly and hover in any direction, and can catch fast moving prey on the wing.
- Dragonflies have huge eyes that grant them excellent eyesight to spot prey.
- Dragonflies start life as predatory underwater nymphs, hunting tadpoles and underwater insects, then they will eventually leave the water to moult into their adult forms.
Gallery[]
