#hematophagy

[starmars-jacam]

Vampire bat (or I guess hematophagy) research. bc I want to learn how blood would help vampires nutritionally

I found this interesting

“Male offspring tend to live in their natal groups until they are about two years old, sometimes being forcibly expelled by the resident adult males” vampire bag - Wikipedia

Seems just a little familiar.  (👀 Owen/pyro @ Avid)

[peregrinethegryphon]

I see you're a cultured viewer of everyone's favorite thoughtful potato, really dig that mermaid! What might your take on vampires as more biologically plausible creatures be like... prolly short nightmare gremlins due to being stealthy hemophages/hypercarnivores i assume

I appreciate your feedback!

Sorry I don't have a drawing for this one. I do like Thought Potato's take on vampires as it seems the most grounded while also adhering to lore, but if I had to make my own that wasn't related to a virus, they would probably be a hominid species that, like you said, would be rather short, parasitic creatures.

I can't imagine them being 100% hematophagous as it's rare among vertebrates, and even vampire bats have so many insane specializations. Not to mention they'd be more than just 'short', they'd be downright tiny if they fed exclusively on human blood. Of course, vampires nowadays are depicted as full-on predators that kill their human prey, but no real hematophagous animals do that. Rather they're all parasitic and only take a tiny bit of their host's blood, usually doing little to no damage in the process. Unless you count the diseases they may carry, which could be incorporated into the vampire. Perhaps it's a virus that our hypothetical vampire carries that actually kills the host slowly over time, harkening back to old folklore where vampires were blamed for people dying of diseases before Germ Theory.

The real mystery is how/why they would have evolved this way. All other hematophagous vertebrates seem to have started as insectivores specializing in eating hematophagous insects (mosquitos & ticks) until they decided to just cut out the middle man. I don't see a hominid species going from omnivore to insectivore to hematophage. Maybe more like omnivore to carnivore to part-time carnivore/part-time hematophage?

In regards to Thought Potato's video, I find it wild that he chose to keep crucifixes as a weakness and made an insanely detailed and plausible explanation as to why instead of just disregarding it as a religious symbol used by the people of that culture to ward off what they considered to be demonic. But garlic as a weakness was the fictitious one?? Like, it's a plant. You could just say it's poisonous to vampires. Seems more believable than a crucifix.

Fun Fact: There's a good chance (and this is ONE explanation but it's the one that makes the most sense to me) garlic is considered a weakness of vampires because it's a strong smelling plant, and before Germ Theory there was Miasma Theory and this idea that diseases were caused by "bad air" (and evil spirits). Since people thought that "bad air" came from bad smells (which is kinda right since bad smells usually come from bacteria) then the best way to combat it was with good smells, hints why plague doctors kept flowers in their masks. By extension, good smelling things or just strong smelling things could be used to ward off the evil spirits that supposedly caused the bad smells/bad air/diseases. Thus vampires, a kind of evil spirit or demonic force, could be warded off by things like garlic.

[panlight]

I just had a thought. I donate plasma (the fluid part of your blood) biweekly. You get saline back in your bloodstream once the donation process is over. My question is how would that smell/taste to vampires?? Would the saline completely ruin the scent and taste? Would it even have any benefits in terms of thirst?

It’s like when you get a soda at like a fast food place from the soda fountain and the syrup is low, so the soda you get is kind of bland and watered down? I’m guessing that’s what it would be like to have blood with the saline vs blood with actual plasma. Or maybe it’s more like drinking flat soda? Like the taste is okay but there’s no carbonation, no bubbles, no effervescence, if you will. I’ve always assumed that it’s red blood cells that vampires need/want, but I really have nothing to base it on, but the plasma would contribute to the ~flavor.. So the saline solution blood might still meet their needs, but I think the overall ~experience would be less satisfying? But then again doesn’t the plasma have the coagulation factors? So with less plasma the blood wouldn’t clot as well/at all, which could make for a unique drinking experience for a vampire--or it could just be messy or again, feel watered down. 

[fantasy-so-far]

“Tea” for Three

           Auntie caught Violetta in the kitchen entrance, just as the young girl made her fifth trip from the back garden into the house. The pale, petite viera child was wearing her nicest gown but a pair of oversized mud boots. Upon discreet inspection, Auntie found that the dress was immaculate still, even as the boots were filthy.

           “Just what are you doing, child?” The woman asked, startling Violetta as she was struggled to slip out of her boots.

           “Preparing to have tea and make potions in the garden,” the girl replied, her voice and face filled with sincere innocence.

           “With whom? Erian is ill, so you had better not be trying to sneak him out into the garden. It isn’t even sundown you reckless thing,” Auntie retorted, immune to even earnest innocence from her void-touched charges.

           “Not with Erian,” Violetta replied simply as she scampered by, unbothered, to collect her tea service playset from beneath the sink.

           Auntie watched the girl load the items, carefully, into a basket. The hawk-eyed woman weighed the worth of arguing and pressing the headstrong child, but ultimately waved the girl off and resumed making herself dinner.

           “Don’t stay out all night and don’t ruin that dress,” she offered as a second thought.

           Violetta made a husky, humming sound to denote that she probably heard the elder woman, but was already jamming her damp socks back into her boots and making her way back to the rear garden.

            Dreary, overcast days were the closes she had ever been to seeing the sun. Dusk was creeping in, but Violetta liked to imagine that she could feel the warm rays of the sun and they were soothed rather than scorched. She reveled in the days when the cloud cover was thick over the forest canopy, especially when there was no rain. It had already been a damp start to summer, her boots squelching in mud whenever she stepped off the pavers, so it was a rare day.

           The perfect day for a tea party and pretend potions and brews.

           “I am back!” She announced to the seemingly empty glade.

           She and Erian had claimed the small corner of the garden, beneath a willow and among the exterior wall of a charming hedge maze. They were not permitted to enter the maze without Auntie, so their defiance was marked by the small window they had carved through the hedge so that they could peer into the maze and spy on the creatures that dwelled there.

           Among the swing and tree house, there was also a wrought iron table with four small chairs. For as taciturn as Auntie was, she had ensured the children had the common comforts of children their age. A normal life was impossible to live, but it could be replicated in their tidy material culture.

           On that day, Erian’s chair was decorated with a bouquet of late spring flowers, amateurly put together by his sister, and a stuffed slyphic plush, who served as his surrogate at the night’s proceedings. In the chair across from Violetta’s sat a large, old mirror. It was draped in Violetta’s dark purple cloak and had a flower crown hung from one corner as if it were set upon a head at a jaunty angle.

           Violetta deftly climbed up into the tree, carrying her porcelain teapot with her. At the meeting spot of the two enormous limbs of the great, old tree, there was a small hollow. It was a stash for Erian and Violetta, mostly because only a small hand and thin arm could plumb the dark depths. Fearlessly, Violetta reached into the stash and pulled out an enchanted bottle. She poured the ruby contents from the bottle into the teapot and then corked the bottle. Before she returned it, she took out a pencil and made a little hash mark on the paper label tied to the bottle. The dark prize within it would only stay warm and fresh for a single cycle of the moon, from dark to full, so it was imperative that she and Erian keep track of its age.

           Once she was back on the ground, Violetta put out two settings, though she was serving three in spirit. When it came to serving herself and her guests, she only poured the blood into her own cup. Erian’s cup was filled with a sludgy mix of puddle water, moss, and “tea” leaves. It was meant to be symbolic of a cure for his illness, and she administered it with all the love and reverence of one long practiced in bedside manner. Then there was the matter of the mirror.

           Or, rather, the creature in the mirror.

           Before Violetta seated herself, she looked up at the sky. Judging the sun to be down, at last, she reached out and adjusted the cloak that clung to the mirror. When she sat down, her reflection mimicked her, as one would assume it should.

           But the creature in the mirror was not meant to be there.

           The onyx black surface of the scrying mirror perfectly reflected a version of the child sitting before it, but that version was not a perfect replica of Violetta. It shared similarities, such as the shape and markings of her face, but where Violetta’s stare was dark scarlet, this creature’s eyes glowed crimson from within the shadows of a tattered hood.

           “Our brother…he is ill again?” The creature intoned, though Violetta would be the only one to hear it.

           The word “our” made Violetta’s ears droop and her lips pout into a frown. Her companion refused to meet Erian, and even made Violetta swear to speak lies of its existence. She had told Erian that she had a strange friend and spoke of the creature, but she used veiled language since she was afraid her brother would be angry. She knew he was smarter than her, and that she should heed his warnings about dark creatures, like those he read about, but this creature was with her always and she didn’t know how to explain that.

           “He is,” she whispered in response. “He is always sick when he must feed deeply. I don’t get sick like he does, but he…is very unwell. It is why we try to always have small amounts always. Sometimes, it is hard, though. Auntie must be careful since she cannot feed us because she is older now and we eat a lot more than we once did.”

           “It will be different when you are older. I promise,” the creature urged.

           Violetta nodded to the words and sipped the blood from her teacup. Few things made her feel warm. Even sitting beside a fire could only warm her skin. But fresh blood warmed her from the core. It was the sort of pleasant that made it tempting to indulge too deeply. However, even as a child, Violetta was aware of the dangers of giving in to the hunger.

           “Don’t forget me,” the creature murmured sullenly.

           The child opened her eyes and smiled faintly. She dipped a pale finger into the cup’s contents and reached out to smear the blood over the place where her reflection’s lips should be.

           “What are you doing!?”

           Auntie’s fear rolled from her as she stormed over, and the potent wave of emotion shocked Violetta more than the snarled inquiry. She stared, wide-eyed and confused, at her caretaker, even as the woman moved around to pick up the mirror. To Auntie’s relief, the blood had not been transferred.

           Or so she would believe.

           “This is not a toy!” She snapped. “How many times must I tell you that!? Clean up this…where did you get that blood? Oh…that’s it. Clean up this mess and you will go straight to your room. You have studies to see to anyhow. Get to it, now. Chop chop.”

           Before Violetta had control enough to protest, Auntie stormed off with the mirror, throwing the flower crown to the ground as she went. Dark tears welled at the child’s lash line as she pondered the definition of injustice, but she obediently did as she was told. She cleaned up the cup in front of her surrogate brother first, her tears falling down her cheeks and staining her dress as she did. She worried since she had not conducted the entire symbolic ritual, that he would remain sick for days. This distressed her more than having her playtime revoked.

           When she went to finish the cup of blood, she caught the glowing eye reflected on the grim surface.

           “Thank you…for sharing with me…” the creature whispered before flashing its fangs in a wicked, bloody grin.

[scriptmedic]

Google has failed me, and since I don't want to wind up on some sort of watch list, I turn to you. How much blood can a human drink without becoming sick and throwing up? Let's assume there are no diseases, drugs, whatever, in the blood being ingested. Let's also leave out the mental ick part. Can a person just chug away, or is their body going to reject the blood?

There are a couple of different answers on this, so I’m going to start with the truth: I’m not exactly sure. There are tribes like the Massai that drink cow’s blood, and the Mongols were reported to drink horse’s blood when nothing else was available. I don’t have enough data about the amount of blood they drink, or whether any of them vomit in reaction.

It’s possible that this is a cultural norm in those groups. It’s possible that they’ve simply accustomed to it. It’s possible that the first time someone from those groups drinks blood they do throw up. It’s possible that they don’t. Humans survive swallowing blood from nosebleeds pretty well, but many do vomit. That’s an unintentional act. Blood also irritates the stomach if it’s the thing that’s bleeding, but that’s not a normal stomach.

Some sources suggest that vomiting after drinking blood is psychological. It violates a lot of our ingrained social codes. But there may be some physical reaction as well, all things considered.

So your ultimate answer to your ultimate question of life, the universe and hematophagy is.... ??????

Maybe 1/4 cup? The stomach’s overall capacity is about a liter. So there’s that.

I could be completely goddamn wrong about this, actually, because I don’t have any good hematophagy resources.

[humming-bird-art]

here’s some Letty

[panlight]

Thirsty vampires are in acute physical pain. It is comparable to the feel of a third degree burn inside your throat. It can make a vampire literally crazy for relief—beyond thought. [. . .] It is not about pleasure as much as relief of pain for the thirsty vampire. There is pleasure in the act, but it does not influence the motivation before the act as much as the pain does. 

Blood drinking is an imperative. Even for a vampire who keeps his or her system full of animal blood, the lack of human blood is constant pain.  - Stephenie Meyer, PC #12 Where do you think “Thirsty Vampire” falls on the pain chart? Where do you think the “constant pain” the vegetarian vampires experience falls? 

[panlight]

Do you think vamps could sip blood throughout the day rather than waiting a few weeks and then hunting? Idk I just kind of imagine a vampire walking around with a blood flask. Also, what are your thoughts on vampires who might be against hunting humans but were also animal activists in the past? How do you think they would choose to feed?

I’m not entirely sure how it works, but they talk about a “frenzy” when smelling/tasting blood and sort of losing control, so little sips throughout the day might be hard for all but the most controlled vampires. I think Alice describes it like sharks sensing blood in the water–once the frenzy starts, a little sip probably isn’t going to be enough to satisfy them. It would be a rough spot to be a animal rights activist-turned-vampire who was also opposed to killing humans. That doesn’t leave a lot of options. There’s raiding blood banks, I guess, but again one bag here and there is probably not going to tide them over for long, especially in their newborn phase.  I guess they could go the vigilante route and hunt down humans who horribly mistreated animals. I’m not talking about farmers or anything but like, poachers who kill elephants and rhinos, people who run dogfights, etc.