Vampire Bats

In Romanian folklore it was thought that a bat, insect or other flying creature that passed over a corpse, could turn it into a revenant (a corpse that returns from the grave). In fact, bats are much like vampires. They are nocturnal, some species drink blood, and they have an acute sense of hearing and … Read more

Mosquitoes

The most common bloodsucking animal, mosquitoes can be found almost anywhere in the world where standing water and blood-bearing animals co-exist. Male mosquitoes stick to a vegan and nectar-based diet. Female mosquitoes drink blood. Though mosquitoes themselves are not actually dangerous, they are the cause of more human deaths than any other animal, carrying and … Read more

Leeches

Leeches (sing. leech) are segmented worms that belong to the phylum Annelida and comprise the subclass Hirudinea. Like earthworms, leeches are hermaphrodites but differ in the way that they are real predators with a more solid body and two suckers, one at each end. The majority of the 700 known species of leeches live in … Read more

Blood-sucking Chupacabra

The chupacabra (Spanish for goat sucker) is a cryptid creature like Bigfoot, and although alleged sightings are numerous, its existence is unproven.  The legend dates back decades, but it went viral in the 1990s after hundreds of dead farm animals were found in Puerto Rico, drained of their blood. Chupacabra tales soon spread to Mexico, … Read more

Vampire Finches

The Vampire Finch (Geospiza difficilis septentrionalis) is a small bird native to the Galápagos Islands. It is a very distinct subspecies of the Sharp-beaked Ground Finch (Geospiza difficilis) endemic to Wolf and Darwin Islands. Most finch species eat seeds and migrate to more hospitable climates in the winter months. The vampire finch does not migrate, … Read more

Candirú

The Candirú (Vandellia cirrhosa), sometimes called the Vampire Catfish, is a type of freshwater catfish found only in the Amazon or Orinoco rivers. Those are the only known habitats for this tiny, parasite, which attacks other fish by swimming into their gill slits and sucking their blood and, on rare occasions, attacks a person by … Read more

Lampreys

Lampreys (sometimes also called lamprey eels), which evolved some 250 million years ago, are a family of elongated jawless fish, whose adults are characterized by a toothed, disc-shaped sucking mouth. Lampreys spend most of their lives as harmless larvae; it can take them seven years to mature. But when they do become adults they become … Read more

Louse

Louse (plural: lice) is the common name for over 3,000 species of wingless parasite insects of the order Phthiraptera; are mostly wingless insects which normally feed on epidermal (skin) debris. Most lice are scavengers, feeding on skin and other debris found on the host’s body, but some species feed on sebaceous secretions and blood. Most … Read more