In the animal kingdom, vampires exist. Sink your fangs into these gruesome facts about creatures that consume blood for breakfast, lunch and dinner
Words Matt Ayres
VAMPIRE BATS SENSE THE BLOOD OF THEIR VICTIMS
Perhaps the most iconic bloodsucker of all is the vampire bat. There’s a reason why Dracula and his undead allies are so closely associated with these flying mammals – they’re experts at finding and consuming blood from all kinds of creatures.
There are three recognised species of vampire bat: the common vampire bat, the hairy-legged vampire bat and the white-winged vampire bat. To avoid competing for food, each bat specialises in a different type of prey. Common vampire bats drink from mammals (including the occasional human), hairy-legged bats feed on birds, and the white-winged bat happily consumes both avian and mammalian blood.
Unlike most other bats, vampire bats are adept at walking and running around on the ground. In fact, common vampire bats begin their nocturnal blood hunts from the floor. They stealthily approach large creatures such as cows, clamber on and proceed to bite the victim’s rump, side or neck.
A thermoreceptor on the bat’s nose helps it to pinpoint areas where blood flows close to the skin. When the red juice starts flowing, the bat laps from the wound with its tongue, relying on a chemical in its saliva that prevents blood from clotting.
dId You kNoW?
The idea of drinking blood may make human stomachs turn, but vampire bats love it so much that they’ll happily guzzle regurgitated blood gifted to them by friends and family.
Mosquitoes are the deadliest animals in the world
The name ‘mosquito’ is derived from Spanish words meaning ‘tiny fly’, but these creatures prove beyond doubt that size isn’t everything. These diminutive, buzzing bloodsuckers are responsible for more human deaths than any other animal due to their transmission of diseases including malaria, dengue fever and encephalitis.
Only female mosquitoes bite and suck blood, which they do in order to provide protein to their developing eggs. The insects can drink up to three times their weight in blood and generally prefer to feed on large mammals such as cows and horses. The irritating bumps you get after being bitten by a mosquito are actually a reaction to the bug’s saliva, rather than a wound from the bite.
Annoying as they are, mosquitoes don’t have it all their own way. Several animals target them to satisfy their blood lust. For example, Kenyan jumping spiders lack the mouth parts required to pierce skin so feed on blood-gorged mosquitoes instead.
dId You kNoW?
Mosquitoes have been sucking blood since the dinosaurs. A 46-million-year-old fossil of a mosquito engorged with blood was found in 2013 – the only one of its kind ever to be found.
oxpeckers eat insects with a side order of blood
It’s not just bats and bugs
