 Dennis Kunkel |
From cape-wearing Count Draculas to chic Twilight impersonators, there are sure to be innumerable people dressed up in vampire costumes this Halloween. In honor of the holiday, and our fascination with sanguinivorous creatures, we offer you facts about real blood-sucking animals.
3,000 Number of offspring one female mosquito may produce during her life
200 Tick species in the United States
1 Hosts a soft tick feeds on
3 Hosts a hard tick feeds on
200 Times a fleas body length it can jump
2 Bird species that feed on bloodthe vampire finch and the Gal獺pagos mockingbird
20 Minutes a vampire bat feeds on its prey
32 Brains, or nerve endings, per leech
100 Teeth in a lampreys mouth
50 Dollars, in millions, allocated to states under the 2009 Dont Let the Bedbugs Bite Act to look for bedbugs, train health inspectors, and educate the public about the pests
This article originally appeared in the the Sept-Oct 2009 issue of magazine.
