Real-life Vampire Animals

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Happy Fursday, Missians!

Thanks for joining me once again for another Pet Spooktacular blog post.  Mad appreciation also goes out to all of you listening each Saturday.  It's awesome to be back on Blog Talk Radio for these next couple of weeks.  We'll have a show every Saturday for the rest of October and every Friday, Saturday, or Sunday in November, (I may choose to switch it up in November and do days other than Saturday).

Also, I'm going to switch around my last two Pet Spooktacular shows.  This Saturday, I'll be doing an all new scary-stories-reading, and I'll save the guest-host episode for the Saturday before Halloween.  Tomorrow's re-broad cast of a past Pet Spooktacular episode will remain the same as scheduled.

Here's the updated schedule:

Friday, October 18th:  Re-airing of Misunderstood Animals, Cryptids, & Other Creepy Creatures (originally aired 10/18/14)

 Saturday, October 19th:  Brand New Creepy Tales From the Supernatural (new)
Friday, October 25th:  Re-airing of Macabre Animal Stories: Fact or Fiction (originally aired 10/8/16)

Saturday, October 26th:  Guest host/Surprise Episode (new)


Okay, now on to today's post--Real Life Vampiric Animals.

I think we're all familiar with vampire bats and piranhas, but what are some other creatures that are out for human blood?  We get help in answering that question from the ranker.com article, "15 Vampiric Animals That Love Sucking Blood", AKA:  These Vampires of the Animal Kingdom Are Way More Terrifying Than Dracula...


Vampire Ground Finch:


The vampire ground finch earned its name from its blood-siphoning habits. While it may look like a normal bird, its neighboring avians are in on its vampiric secrets. Sharing its habitat with boobies and other seabirds, the vampire ground finch will peck away at their skin with its sharp beak so it can break the surface and drink their blood.
Oddly, these other birds don't fight the finch's snacking. Experts theorize that the finches used to eat unwanted ticks and flies off the seabirds' backs, and the larger birds simply got used to the unusual relationship.
Candiru:
Candiru are very small, parasitic catfish that feed on the blood of other fish. Averaging less than an inch in length, these tiny bloodsuckers have been observed swimming into the gills of other fish to anchor themselves to their insides and feast. The fish do this to mammals as well, notably swimming up the urine streams of humans to latch onto the urethra.
Sea Lamprey:


The mouth of a sea lamprey is pure nightmare fuel. It contains row upon circular row of sharp teeth - and it's out to feed on your juices. Latching onto its meal with its teeth, the sea lamprey uses its mouth like a living suction cup, shucking away the flesh to get to the blood.
Kissing Bug:
Despite their name, kissing bugs don't exist to give you smooches. You actually don't want any sort of kiss from this potential carrier of the Chagas disease parasite. Also known as the assassin bug or the vampire bug, they prefer to feast on blood during the night. Their adorable moniker comes from their tendency to bite humans around the mouth and eyes.
Oxpecker:
The oxpecker perches on mammals, eating the insects that are drawn to their infections and wounds. While this may seem like a symbiotic relationship, the oxpecker's intentions are only to fill its own belly. It has been observed to take full advantage of the mammals, reopening wounds and even creating new ones, in order to drink blood.
Butterfly:
Although they're not capable of drawing the blood from a human themselves, butterflies will drink it if given the chance. Much like how they suck up the nectar from from a flowering plant, they'll suck up spilled blood for liquefied nutrients. The sodium and glucose that linger in the bloodstream are vital nutrients for a butterfly's survival.
Hood Mockingbird:


The hood mockingbird will take complete advantage of wounded seabirds and mammals, drinking the blood straight out of the animal. They've been known to make sea lions, other birds, and even humans their food sources. Hood mockingbirds are aggressive and territorial by nature, and have no problem chasing after their meals.
Cooper's Nutmeg:
Although the Cooper's nutmeg may look like a typical snail, that shell houses a tiny parasite that drinks the blood of electric rays. The snails attach themselves to their hosts by cutting through their flesh and wiggling themselves deep into the wounds. The snail can stick to its host for up to 40 minutes without the ray suffering any apparent harm.
Tristan Thrush:


The Tristan thrush is a scavenger that eats worms, eggs, and, of course, dead things it finds on the ground. Blood is not a primary source of food for the Tristan thrush; however, it has been observed to drink the blood of other birds. Penguins reportedly fall victim to its odd eating habits from time to time.

The other creatures on the list are ones you probably already knew were vampiric:  mosquitoes, bed bugs, leeches, ticks, fleas, and vampire bats, (so, I won't include those here).  You can read about them at the article link above. 

Well, that's it for now friends.  Be sure to check our social media pages tomorrow, for the latest installment of October Pet Spooktacular at 7pm; and don't forget our all-new episode Saturday at 5pm Central on Blog Talk Radio:

 www.blogtalkradio.com/shesatortie 

Until then,
This is your host, J
signing off...

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