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Vampires in Science

Haris Durrani ’11
Opinions Editor

Vampires are scary. They suck blood. They have persisted through mythology, books, and movies for years. But what’s scarier is they aren’t as bound to fiction as we might think – there are some cases in science where nature adopts vampire-like behavior.

The first vampire bat – or some kind of animal genetically related to one – appeared under 26 million years ago, according to “Newscientist.” Nocturnal creatures, modern vampire bats feed on the blood of birds, livestock, and even humans if there’s nothing else to feast on.

When a bat snares its prey, the predator’s saliva enters the victim’s bloodstream, and the anticoagulants in the saliva help prevent clotting so that blood flows easily to the bat’s mouth.

Despite the chilling details, these natural vampires are not as evil as one might think, as these same anticoagulants can potentially be used for medical purposes due to their ability to clean out blood vessels.

While vampire bats are the obvious instances of vampire occurrences in nature, they are not the only examples.

“If you had to pick the single most lethal organism on the planet, it isn’t some frightening and ferocious monster,” Michael Aitkenhead, an AP Enviornmental teacher said. “It would probably be the mosquito.”

Aitkenhead attributed the danger of these vampiric bugs, of course, to their ability to carry treacherous diseases. Indeed, over one million people die each year from malaria, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

“What is more scary, a blood sucking human who kills a person every few days or weeks, or a tiny little mosquito who is responsible for countless millions of deaths?” Aitkenhead said.

Michael Lazaroff, a forensics teacher, held a different – but still small – beast as his exemplary vampire.

“The real vampires to me are leeches,” Lazaroff said. “Leeches will bite and suck your blood.”

He added that leeches, too, have modern medical applications. After an amputated hand is reattached, for instance, a leech can be placed at the end of each finger to help blood flow. And, like vampire bats, leeches produce anticoagulants.

“I’m a sucker for the leeches,” Lazaroff said.

 A slew of other creatures might also fall under the vampire umbrella: lice, ticks, fleas, and vampire moths, to name a few.

According to “Science Daily,” some scientists are experimenting with the idea that toxic algae blooms are created when algae attempt to eliminate competitors in order to use their nutrients. One scientist compared these algae to blood-sucking insects like mosquitoes.

The small, parasitic candiru fish uses powerful teeth to burrow into the orifices of its victims during the night and sucks out blood to the point that one species, according to “Newscientist,” held so much it could barely move.

The Dracula fish, discovered this March, according to “National Geographic,” bears hideous long fangs. Unfortunately, it does not feed on blood, and its fangs are more for show than prey.

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