Vampire Animals: 5 Terrifying Bloodsuckers Living Among Us

• Leeches, resembling large earthworms, attach to animals and suck blood, also used in medical treatments for their anti-clotting properties.
• Vampire bats, found in Central and South America, make small incisions on animals to lap up blood, often unnoticed by their hosts.
• Vampire snails, or 'false tritons,' emerge at night in Sicily and West Africa to drink blood from sleeping fish, numbing the area before feeding.
• Female mosquitoes worldwide drink blood to lay eggs, spreading diseases but also serving as food for other creatures and aiding pollination.
• Ticks, ancient and resilient parasites, attach to various vertebrates, including pets and humans, to feed on blood, capable of surviving weeks without food.

Why It Matters: Some animals, like leeches, vampire bats, snails, mosquitoes, and ticks, survive solely by drinking blood.