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Pest control facts for kids

Kids Encyclopedia Facts
Crop Duster
A crop duster applies pesticide Western corn rootworm

Pest control is group of methods to control some species of animals and plants that are considered by humans as harmful to their health, economy or ecology.

Pest control is as old as agriculture, as there has always been a need to keep crops free from pests. In order to get best results from food production there was always need to protect crops from competing plants trying to kill the crops to grow in its place.

In homes and urban environments, the pests are the rodents, birds, insects and other organisms that share the habitat with humans, and that feed on and spoil possessions. Control of these pests is attempted through exclusion, repulsion, physical removal or chemical means.

Images for kids

  • Bronze Saite era art of an Egyptian cat in the Gulbenkian Museum

    Bronze cat, Ancient Egypt. (664–525 BC)

  • Cotesia9061.8.15.07.c

    Biological pest control: parasitoid wasp (Cotesia congregata) adult with pupal cocoons on its host, a tobacco hornworm Manduca sexta (green background)

  • Following the plough 3 - geograph.org.uk - 1019422

    Cultivation by ploughing exposes insect pests to predators such as black-headed gulls.

  • Choristoneura fumiferana

    Spruce budworm (adult and pupa shown), a serious pest of forests, can be monitored using pheromone traps.

  • Insecticide pine logs ips sexdentatus

    Spraying pine logs with insecticide against Ips sexdentatus, a pine engraver beetle

  • Passenger pigeon shoot

    A contemporary wood engraving of varmint hunters shooting passenger pigeons, a varmint species that was known to damage crops. Overhunting resulted in complete extinction of the species.

  • Dog van Rekong Peo

    Dog control van, Rekong Peo, Himachal Pradesh, India

  • Rodent Bait Station, Chennai, India

    Rodent bait station, Chennai, India

  • Rodent bait box with bait

    Bait being placed in a rodent bait box.

  • Tent fumigation

    Tent fumigation of a house in America

  • Rat pest control underground

    Brown rat infestation

  • Tribolium castaneum

    The red flour beetle, Tribolium castaneum, attacks stored grain products worldwide.

  • MiteTineola 1233096

    Larva, pupa and adult clothes moth Tineola bisselliella with characteristic damage to fabric

  • 130312 Tesarik krovovy Hylotrupes bajulus (7)

    House timber split open to reveal larvae of the house longhorn beetle, Hylotrupes bajulus, in their burrows, which are partially filled with frass

  • Aedes aegypti biting human

    Mosquito (Aedes aegypti) biting a human

  • JT8D Engine after Bird Strike

    Jet engine fan blades damaged by bird strike

See also

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