Do Vampires Poop - Cont’d
BLOODSUCKING MADE SIMPLE
So we looked at our mammalian friend the vampire bat. What about other examples of hemagraphic creatures? (is...that word? Hemagraphic? It surely is now. Well done me.)
Leeches. Leeches are known far and wide as little blood sucking worms from hell. But they are also quite handy, and still used in some medicinal therapies. So, give the little grossies some credit.
Leeches have a very simple digestive system in comparison to a mammal. Because they’re leeches.
Obviously, a humanoid vampire would not have much in common with a leech. But, I did think a few points about the leech were worth mentioning here.
The leech has a VERY slow moving digestive tract, and this means some leeches can subsist on a nice long bloody meal for up to a year. The blood is stored in a special organ called the Crop. Leeches create a nice anticoagulant the keep the stored blood from going all lumpy, and just digest it as they need it. Then, after that long period of time, the leeches expel whatever’s left.
NOTE: The largest leeches weigh roughly 5 grams. Leeches normally ingest 5 to 15 milliliters of blood, or the equivalent in grams. Therefore, a leech eats its own body weight to 3 times its body weight in blood. If our strapping sexy man-pire did this, he would have to feed on 15 people to eat his full weight, and 47 people to triple his weight. Still better in the long run than the vampire bat’s requirements, population wise. But imagine the mess?!
So, in this example, vampire could potentially poop, but only on the rare occasion.
On the last leg of our journey into animal’s that share a love of all things bloody, we will look at the most famous and most despised of all the blood drinkers. The mosquito. Stay tuned - you’ll be positively itching with excitement.
Cheers!