Vampires of the Wild Kingdom
The Vampire Squid:
“Like many deep-sea cephalopods, Vampire Squid lack ink sacs. If threatened, instead of ink, a sticky cloud of bioluminescent mucus containing innumerable orbs of blue light is ejected from the arm tips. This luminous barrage, which may last nearly 10 minutes, is presumably meant to daze would-be predators and allow the Vampire Squid to disappear into the blackness without the need to swim far.” — wikipedia entry on Vampire Squid from Hell
The Vampire Bat:
“…The furry, bean-shaped bat with its rodent-like face resembles a rat with wings, but bats are actually more closely related in evolution to dogs and horses. In fact, vampire bats in the wild will gallop and leap across the ground much in the same way that horses do.
In South America where they are common, vampire bats approach their prey on the ground, galloping quickly and quietly as they sneak up on, bite, and drink the blood from sleeping cows, goats and birds.” — “What Steers Vampires to Blood,” UCSF Research
The Vampire Finch:
“…Their most important source of food during the extended droughts is blood. The finches begin by landing on the tail of a seabird. They peck at the base of its wing feathers, breaking the skin and causing it to bleed. As the blood oozes out, the finches sip it every few seconds. Other finches line up behind the booby like a queue at a blood bank and as soon as one leaves its blood-sucking perch another takes its place.” — “Islands of the Vampire Birds”
[Read about Oxpeckers and more at The Evolution of Vampires]
Image Source: fatfinch.wordpress.com
Latest posts by Michael Arnzen (see all)
- PLAY DEAD Returns in Paperback — Preorder to Win a Rare Book! - 06/03/2013
- Scary Movies (and More) by my Horror Writing Students (Spring 2013) - 05/01/2013
- My Monstrous Lecture on the Horror Genre: “Horror is the Removal of Masks” - 04/27/2013
- Live Instigation - 04/14/2013
- Outlaws At the Treffpunkt: the 5-2 Crime Poetry Weekly - 04/04/2013
06/18/2013 at 8:43 am 
06/11/2013 at 2:11 pm 
