There is a lot more to Vampires than just Count Dracula--or, if you're a fan of the cartoon, Count Duckula. A vampire is a mythological creature who feeds on the blood of the living.
Keep your garlic at the ready: Here are some deadly real-life vampire animals to make you shudder. They include the vampire monkey, a Chinese species that lives solely on other animals' blood; the vampire bat; the vampire moth, which can pierce through human skin to get its fill of blood; and the mosquito.
You'll also see the vampire squid, which is surely the stuff of SpongeBob's nightmares; the red-billed oxpecker, which feasts on fresh rhino wounds; and the vampire shark.
Why This Trend Is Growing
- Blood-sucking Animals
- Newly discovered types of blood-sucking animals could be studied for their unique survival tactics.
- Mythical Creature Biology
- More research could be done on vampire creatures to find out how they differ from other animals.
- Bio-inspired Medicine
- A better understanding of blood-sucking animals could lead to new medicinal breakthroughs.
Industries Being Reshaped
- Pharmaceuticals
- Pharmaceutical companies may want to research the medicinal properties of the unique and potentially undiscovered compounds in blood-sucking creatures.
- Biology and Zoology
- Researchers in biology and zoology could look to the behavior of blood-sucking creatures to understand unique evolutionary traits.
- Entertainment Industry
- The entertainment industry could see an increase of vampire-inspired content based on these newly discovered creatures.
