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Happy Halloween - Real Vampires !!!
Happy Halloween - Real Vampires !!!
Wildlife Vampires - Part 1
http://blogs.nwf.org/arctic_promise/2009/10/wildlife-vampires.html
Who's your favorite vampire? Do you swoon over Edward Cullen and Bill Compton, or are classic bloodsuckers like Count Dracula and Lestat de Lioncourt more your style? As fun as it is to obsess over and be scared by these fictional vampires, the real things are much more fascinating. In honor of Halloween, here is the first of a several posts on the living, breathing vampires that might just be stalking you.Any discussion of bloodsucking animals has to start with vampire bats. Meet Desmodus rotundus and his cousins Diphylla ecaudata and Diaemus youngi, known respectively as the common, hairy-legged and white-winged vampire bats.
Found only in the Americas, their collective range goes from Mexico down through Argentina. These bats feed exclusively on the blood of other animals. The common vampire bat typically goes for mammals, including domestic cows and horses, while the other two species prefer to feed upon birdsalthough the occasional human does make it on the menu.
Thankfully, the bite of one of these bats won't turn you into a vampire although the wounds can become infected.
The goodnight rhyme "nite nite, sleep tight, don't let the bed bugs bite" takes on macabre twist when you learn that in the last few years, these little vampires are on the rise. Nearly eradicated in North America for 50 years, bed bugs are back with a blood-sucking vengeance, showing up everywhere from high-end hotels to college dorms to rural bedrooms. After their victims fall asleep, bed bugs emerge from their hiding places in cracks and crevices and insert their sucking mouthparts in a series of bites along the blood vessels, drinking as they go and leaving as series of red, itchy welts. ----------- Mosquitoes For mosquitoes, it's the ladies who are the bloodsuckers. Both sexes feed on flower nectar as their main source of nutrients. Only when she's ready to reproduce does the female mosquito seek out a blood meal. She needs the added protein boost in order to lay her eggs and create a whole new generation of lady vampires. Lampreys These eel-like creatures are something right out of science fiction horror. Their disc-shaped mouths are filled with circles of razor-sharp teeth, which they use to bore into the flesh of their victims. They can remain attached for days or even weeks, all the while sucking in blood and body fluids. One species, the sea lamprey, has been introduced into the Great Lakes where it has become a problematic invasive exotic species. This lamprey can grow to almost 2 feet in length and the native lake fish it feeds upon often don't survive the draining. VIDEO: Lampreys don't typically bother humans, but not always.
http://blogs.nwf.org/arctic_promise/2009/10/wildlife-vampires-part-2.html
This segment deals with sea lampreys that attacked swimmers during a long-distance race
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http://blogs.nwf.org/arctic_promise/2009/10/wildlife-vampires-part-3.htmlWildlife Vampires - Part 3
This is the third post in our series about real life wildlife vampires. Click here for part one and part two.Oxpeckers and Vampire Finches
Vampire finches inhabit the Galapagos Islands and supplement their diet of seeds, insects and nectar with the blood of other birds, usually the blue-footed booby. They peck a hole in the flesh of the booby to get the larger bird's blood and strangely, the boobies hardly seem to notice.
Leeches
Few animals evoke the "icky-creepies" in people as much as worms do with their slimy squirminess and their faceless, legless bodies. When such a creature also feeds upon human blood, it only adds to the horror factor. Such is the case with leeches. These parasitic worms attach themselves to their host and bloat themselves on blood. While most leeches are external parasites, some species will swim into nasal cavities and stay there, feeding and growing. Capable of holding undigested blood in their stomachs, parasitic leeches can go months between feedings.
VIDEO: Watch some leeches in action!
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http://blogs.nwf.org/arctic_promise/2009/10/wildlife-vampires-part-4.htmlWildlife Vampires - Part 4
This is the the final post in our series on wildlife vampires. Be sure to check out: Part One-------
Paws for thought: A poodle is transformed into a very convincing panda for a creative grooming show in Pennsylvania
Getting the hump: Cindy the poodle is transformed into a camel for a creative dog grooming show by owner and show veteran Sandra Hartness
Hair of the dog: Virtually unrecognisable as a poodle, this very convincing buffalo disguise is uncanny
