Image credit: stockphoto Image description: a hoard of red bats flying at night. End description.

Image credit: Avalon/Photoshot License/Alamy. Image description: A smiling vampire bat on the ground. End description.

Image credit to Ivan Sazima and Jansen Zuanon. Image description: A candiru fish full of blood after a meal. End description.

Image credit: PT-Lobos.com/inverts.html . Image description: A Cooper's nutmeg snail on the bottom of the ocean, half in the mud. End description.

We all know vampires can turn into animals, but can animals be vampires?

That's an interesting question. A number of animals do drink blood. They aren't really considered vampires of our kind, but humans give them creative, vampire-like names on occasion.

Bats

The most well-known vampiric animal is the vampire bat. The common, harry-legged, and white winged-vampire bats are found in South and Central America and feed exclusively on blood. These little fellas are endangered so do your best to lend them a hand, okay? Donate to a nature conservancy near you and avoid disturbing their nests!

Bugs

Vampire moths are found in Malaysia and southern Europe and feed on both plants and blood. They are capable of puncturing human skin but the only threat they pose to humans is disease. Other blood-sucking bugs include mosquitoes, fleas, ticks, bedbugs, Eastern bloodsucking conenoses, hood mockingbirds, and yes, even butterflies. These guys cannot drain you of your blood but they can cause infection, illness, and allergic reactions so watch out!

Fish

As for aquatic vampire animals, there are pleanty. Leeches, canridu, sea lamprey, and Cooper's nutmeg, are all water-dwelling bloodsuckers. Leeches are found in fresh water worldwide and feed by attatching themselves to fish and large mammals. Candiru are native to the Amazon and some can grow as long as 40cm! Sea lamprey are weird fucking tentacle limbs with scary mouths on them that live in the Northern Hemisphere. You can find them in the Great Lakes! Cooper's nutmeg are huge, blood-sucking sea snails. They live in the Eastern Pacific ocean, especially around California and Mexico!

Birds

And don't forget about birds! The African oxpeckers, and the vampire ground finches of the Galapagos Islands are truly sights to behold. The two types of oxpeckers are found in different regions of Africa. They feed off the blood of large mammals and eat ticks off of them as well. Vampire ground finches live across the Galapagos Islands and depending on which island they inhabit they sing a different song! They feed off of the blood and eggs of other birds when other food is scarce.

Some of these animals may have inspired certain supersitions or legends about vampires as a whole. It is theorized by some that diseases brought on by blood-sucking insects were the true origins of many vampire folktales. Is this theory just consolation for those too afraid to believe in vampires, or is there some truth to them?

Sources: One Two Three Four and Five.