By Sophia Byl
Anyone who’s read the novel Dracula (which will be most students at some point during their time at East, thanks to the English curriculum) is familiar with the nature of the titular character: a bloodthirsty count who manipulates his victims until they meet their demise at his hands. The way Dracula toys with his prey, in addition to the supernatural elements present, is what transforms the book into the psychological horror legend it is today. Luckily, evil blood-sucking creatures like the Count are completely fictional… right? Well, a couple of animals out there would beg to differ. Evolution presented them with the blessing or curse (depending on your perspective) of feeding on blood or cannibalizing their fellow species members in order to survive. Following are the stories of 5 regrettably real animals who might not be out for your blood specifically, but will certainly leave you with a fair amount of goosebumps.
Vampire Finch: These finches are residents of the Galapagos Islands, the very place where Darwin observed the finches that helped him develop the Theory of Evolution. But while most of the birds Darwin encountered fed on seeds or bugs, the vampire finch’s palate is a bit more specialized. Like its fellow finches, its diet was originally mostly fruits and insects. This becomes a problem during the dry seasons, where food is scarce. The vampire finch’s way to combat this? Creating a symbiotic relationship with some aquatic birds who were having a parasite problem. The little finches got food by eating the parasites, and the larger birds were freed from their insect captors. It was a perfect mutualistic relationship… until it wasn’t.
Eventually the maggots buried so deep into the large birds’ skin that blood was exposed to the finches as a food source – and once they got a taste of it, there was no going back. The blood provided enough nutrition for finches eating it to not only survive, but thrive, and thanks to the laws of natural selection, the tables of the Galapagos finch population turned to favoring blood-sucking birds. And the secrets of the vampire finch continue to be uncovered – researchers at CalTech have found certain bacteria and isotopes of nitrogen in its gut microbiome. These are very rare in most finch species, making the vampire finches’ stomach composition more similar to that of birds of prey and marine predators, like dolphins.
Vampire Squirrel: We now hop from the archipelago of the Galapagos to the jungles of Borneo to meet a squirrel that ambushes innocent deer from trees, slashes their necks open and eats their organs. Very fun times indeed. The vampire squirrel holds the world record for the fluffiest tail – 30% larger than its entire body! While scientists are unsure of the terrific tail’s true purpose, we can make some inferences. The most probable of these is to look more threatening, either to potential predators or unfortunate bystanders. They have been described by locals as being “fierce biters”, and interestingly enough, leave the flesh of their prey completely intact, once the prey has been sufficiently bled and disemboweled. Vampire squirrels are just there for the good stuff – the sweet delicacy that is the innards of small deer (or chickens, if they get lucky).
Dracula Ant: Yet another Guinness World Record holder here – the Dracula Ant claims the title of the fastest animal movement on the plant. Its jaws can snap shut 5000 times faster than the blink of an eye, or 1/60,000th of a second, by using a movement similar to how a human being would snap their fingers. But this isn’t what earned it its vampiric name. That came to be as a result of them sucking the blood of their developing children, of course, in a method known as “nondestructive cannibalism”. The priority of any successful ant colony is the wellbeing of the queen. In times where prey (mainly centipedes and other small bugs) is scarce, desperate measures must be taken. Even in times where food is available, it is fed to ant larvae rather than the queen, since the larvae store the energy in a much more efficient manner. By gradually feeding upon the blood of the youngsters, the queen and workers have a consistent, albeit morbid, food source.
Vampire Flying Frog – The vampire flying frog is somewhat of a false vampire, but don’t turn away yet. It’s still got the malicious intent so characteristic of our bloodsucking friends, plus cannibalistic tendencies as a bonus. Fortunately, countering those undesirable qualities are an awesome frog mom. As tadpoles, vampire flying frogs are silly little dudes (referred to as “completely out there” by amphibian biologist Jodi Rowley) with sharp black fangs, which happen to be their namesake. Once again, vampirism arises as a way to combat a food shortage. Mom frog intentionally lays a bunch of eggs without tadpoles in them for her real kids to snack on. Since those fake eggs are quite gelatinous and dense, fangs evolved as a way to let the babies cut through the slimy things with ease. Thankfully the fangs disappear as the tadpoles mature into frogs – but what does develop is the other half of their name. Between the frog’s sticky appendages are large flaps of skin that allow them to “fly” as they jump. So while this frog isn’t going to be sucking your blood anytime soon, don’t be surprised if you see one gliding about.
Vampire Bat – This one is perhaps the most famous of our vampire creatures. After all, it’s the main animal form Dracula takes in pop culture. The vampire bat is likely the animal on this list you have the most to worry about – it targets larger vertebrates, which in good cases are cows and pigs and in bad cases are penguins or humans. Unless you’re a fan of sleeping outdoors in tropical forests, though, you should be safe. Plus, surviving solely on blood is no easy feat. Blood is 80% water, and the part that actually has nutrients is difficult for the kidneys to metabolize. Yet, a vampire bat will die if it goes more than 48 hours without drinking. So how have vampire bats survived the brutal arena that is nature? Our furry flying friend has found multiple answers to this question.
First on the list is a protein that prevents the blood it drinks from clotting (appropriately named “Draculin”). Without it the bat would essentially be slurping bloody jello, which is a fun Halloween snack idea, but definitely not a nutritious main course for an animal that needs to consume 140% of its body weight per meal. Jello in your blood vessels is pretty not ideal as well – you might know that situation as a heart attack or stroke. Solutions for these medical emergencies involving Draculin are currently being investigated.
On another side of the macromolecule kingdom, we can find missing genes in vampire bat DNA (compared to common bat DNA) that explain how they are able to stomach blood with relative ease. One absent string is attributed to the ability to detect bitter tastes – makes sense, since blood doesn’t palate especially nicely. The lack of other genes prevents certain internal problems from happening – excess iron intake, low sugar consumption, or an overrun of pathogens, if the blood happens to be contaminated.
Perhaps their most fascinating method of survival is a thriving social life. Vampire bats make friends and will share blood with them should said friend happen to be hungry, in what looks like a horrifying kiss of death. Bats that donate frequently and display benevolent tendencies, or altruism, are more often to get more blood in return. Scientists at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama have said it’s “something analogous to human friendship”, which is pretty darn cool. Until you consider the fact that this increases the chances that it might not just be one bat, but a whole cloud of them descending upon you in the name of friendship. And blood.
