Thanks to the mysterious stories of Carmilla, Dracula, and other legendary fictional vampires, it has been believed that feeding on blood is something scary and even unnatural. Well, for humans it is, but in nature, many animals feed daily on blood.
Let’s leave the horror stories behind and navigate through the fascinating history of nature and its species. In the animal world, some beings have blood as a food source because it is rich in protein, but even in that kingdom, animals that feed on blood are few (at least the ones we know).
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The reason why not many animals feed 100% on blood is that it is not nutritious. It has a lot of protein, but not many vitamins, not many carbohydrates, and it is even dangerous with all the pathogens it can contain.
But despite all this, there are animals (endowed by evolution) that do feed on blood without any problem, making other creatures a real feast. Here are four extraordinary ‘vampire’ creatures that feed on blood.
Lampreys
Lampreys are quite a visual spectacle. These animals are jawless fish that have not changed for at least the last 340 million years. To put it in context, lampreys have survived at least four extinction events, have about 50 different species. The most astounding thing about them is that all this time they have exclusively depended on blood to survive.
Bedbugs
This parasite is well known among humans because their favorite blood is ours. They even seem to be made to feed on human blood and nothing else. This arthropod is about the size of a watermelon seed and is equipped with an excellent sense of smell that allows it to identify more than 100 compounds on human skin to finally feed on it.
Vampire moths
Vampire moths, like vampire bats, drink blood. But, unlike bedbugs, they do not require eating blood to survive (fortunately for us). Scientists believe that moths consume blood from time to time as a way of supplementing their diet, especially the male ones. Thanks to the barbed hooks they have as teeth, they can pierce fruits and also thick skins. In Asia and Europe, there have been more cases of bites on humans, and everything points to the fact that it is a climatic adaptation.
Vampire finches
Along with the moth and the vampire bat, finches are also animals that are attracted to blood. As inhabitants of the Galapagos archipelago, finches tend to feed on the blood of seabirds.
These finches peck at the skin of birds until they get the liquid and feast on what they consider to be a quite natural feast. Especially when there are no seeds available to eat.
Text courtesy of Ecoosfera
