1. bioephemera
  2. And another one sucks our blood. . .

And another one sucks our blood. . .

By bioephemera on November 15, 2008.

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The terrifying Siberian Vampire Moth

I took my cat into the vet on Tuesday, and she immediately bit through my arm. Now I'm feverish and my glands are swollen, thank in part to our little furry friends and their bacteria-laden mouths. But it could have been worse; my cat could have been rabid. Or she could be a rare blood-sucking creature, like the vampire bat, or the even rarer blood-sucking vampire moths. (I am not making this up.)

Check out the National Geographic video on the moth. I love when the graduate student says "it's starting to hurt. . ." and laughs nervously. Science is a tough job.

All kidding aside, I'm excited that they've discovered blood-sucking moths. Vampire bats have some interesting adaptations. The blood thinning compounds in their saliva have been examined for potential applications in treating stroke. Who knows what adaptations vampire moths have? Plus they're just plain creepy. So treat moths with more respect, or their big scary tough intimidating potentially itchy blood-sucking cousins will get you.

Tags
biology

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Ugly enough. But I bet they can't compete with our Alaskan mosquitoes. They've been known to deflate a medium sized dog in about 20 seconds.