The mosquito population in Estonia is down by at least 400 after the Baltic state hosted its first-ever mosquito-catching championship.
Thirty-seven participants recently gathered in a field in the city of Tartu to take part in the unusual competition, which brought a cross section of participants.
The field was divided into three-square-metre segments where participants, either individuals or in teams of three, collected as many mosquitoes as possible in 10 minutes.
The competition Read more

The mosquito population in Estonia is down by at least 400 after the Baltic state hosted its first-ever mosquito-catching championship.
Thirty-seven participants recently gathered in a field in the city of Tartu to take part in the unusual competition, which brought a cross section of participants.
The field was divided into three-square-metre segments where participants, either individuals or in teams of three, collected as many mosquitoes as possible in 10 minutes.
The competition rules did not state whether the collected mosquitoes had to be dead or alive.
"We have many mosquitoes and we must fight them somehow, so we decided to organise a mosquito-catching championship," said the event's organiser, Triinu Akkermann.
Participants did not practise before the championship but many had a tactical plan in place to catch the annoying insect.
"The tactics are as follows: We will warm up so we will start sweating a little then I will stand with bare hands and feet and my wife and daughter will pick mosquitoes off me," said one participant, Jevgeny Serov.
The winner in the individual participant category was Rauno Luksepp who caught 38 mosquitoes during the 10-minute duration, but he accumulated about as many mosquito bites in the process.
Luksepp later admitted the best moment of the competition was being announced the winner because there were many unpleasant feelings in the process.
"My legs and arms hurt and itch since the championship. But I feel good now," Luksepp said.
Meanwhile, in the team category, some participants caught up to 81 mosquitoes, but others could not catch more than one.
"I didn't succeed. I guess I don't have tasty blood. While others caught dozens of mosquitoes, I only caught one," said participant Kristina Joost.
The idea of the championship came from Finland, where there have been mosquito-catching championships in the past.
The record registered in Finland is eight mosquitoes in two minutes, so participants in the Estonian championship wanted to break that record, which they did.
The first place winner received a yacht sailing trip on the biggest lake in Estonia, lake Peipus. Close