What Insect Spreads Parasites When It Drinks The Blood Of Animals

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Lateral view of an adult bedbug, Cimex lectularius, as it was in the process of ingesting a blood meal from the arm of a voluntary human host. Photo dated 2006. — CDC/Harvard Academy, Dr. Gary Alpert; Dr. Harold Harlan; Richard Pollack; photograph, Piotr Naskrecki

Team Edward, Team Jacob, and Team Leeches? Probably non. While Hollywood vampires—especially those in the Twilight series—take a devoted fan base, real-life bloodsuckers aren't and then adored. Transmitters of diseases and often just downright creepy, they evidence that drinking blood isn't e'er sexy. Then, sink your teeth into this listing of eight animals that vant to drink claret.

Musquito

mosquito
Banded house mosquito (Culiseta annulata, also known as Theobaldia annulata).
Northward.A. Callow—NHPA/Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

These flying insects are all besides familiar to virtually people. What's piffling known, notwithstanding, is that only the female mosquito drinks human blood, which is needed in order to make eggs. While mosquitoes are ordinarily just annoying—the itchy bump left from a mosquito encounter is a reaction to its saliva—some unfortunate people find out that mosquitoes can transmit a number of serious diseases, including yellow fever, malaria, filariasis, and dengue. Which is why mosquitoes are considered one of the earth'southward deadliest animals.
Flea

Photomicrograph of a dog flea (Ctenocephalides canis).Luis Fernández García (CC-Past-SA-ii.5-ES)

This is another pesky simply seemingly benign insect that is really extremely deadly—as in Black Death deadly. These bloodsuckers are believed to take helped cause the bubonic plague that killed a quarter of Europe'south population during the Heart Ages. As infected rats began to die off, fleas turned to humans for blood, thereby transmitting the disease. And yous probably thought fleas were just a trouble for Fido.
Bedbug

bedbug
Bedbug (Cimex lectularius) magnified five×.
William Eastward. Ferguson

Slumber tight, don't let the bedbugs bite. This nursery rhyme fails to convey the true nightmare of bedbugs. Sometimes called the "perfect parasite," these tiny insects feed at night, often while their victim is asleep, and their bites are painless due to an anesthetizing amanuensis. Later, all the same, the bite frequently becomes an itchy welt. Fortunately, bedbugs don't transmit diseases. Unfortunately, they tin be hard to eliminate.
Oxpecker

reddish-billed oxpecker
Scarlet-billed oxpecker (Buphagus erythrorhynchus) on a Cape buffalo (Syncerus caffer).
© Hemera/Thinkstock

Why should insects have all the fun? These African birds—likewise known as tickbirds—perch on cattle and big-game animals while removing ticks, flies, and maggots from their hosts' hides. This might seem almost nice, until yous find out that the oxpeckers too feed on the blood from the host animals' wounds—preventing the injuries from healing and sometimes creating the wounds themselves.
Vampire Finch

precipitous-beaked footing finch (Geospiza difficilis)joelmccourt

Another bloodthirsty bird, the vampire finch is plant on the Galapagos Islands. Though often eating seeds and insects like other finch species, vampire finches also accept a sense of taste for blood. Their victim is the booby bird, which surprisingly doesn't seem to mind beingness a meal. In fact, the booby frequently sits patiently as a long queue of vampire finches wait to take a drink.
Leech

medicinal leech
Medicinal leech (Hirudo verbana).
© D.Copy/Shutterstock.com

Although nearly people avoid these bloodsucking worms, leeches have long been used in the globe of medicine. Into the 19th century, leeches were used to "care for" such weather condition as mental illness, tumors, peel disease, gout, and whooping cough. While those treatments are now discontinued, leeches have found new—and proven—uses in modernistic medicine. Nigh notably, leeches are used to restore claret flow to damaged veins after an bagginess is reattached or a tissue grafted. So, mayhap more people should be on Team Leech.
Lamprey

lamprey
Lampreys (Petromyzon marinus).
Drow male

These primitive eel-like animals haven't inverse much over hundreds of millions of years. But, if it own't bankrupt, why fix it? Lampreys employ their mouths—which are jawless and characteristic horny teeth—to adhere themselves to fish. Once in place, the lampreys feed off their hosts' blood and tissue. Sometimes a lamprey can stay attached to one fish for weeks. Fortunately, lampreys rarely attack humans.
Vampire Bat

common vampire bat
Common vampire bat (Desmodus rotundus).
Acatenazzi

This type of bat, of which at that place are iii species, is the simply known mammal whose diet is solely based on blood. Although livestock, birds, and reptiles are its typical targets, humans are occasionally its prey. Vampire bats—which must feed at least every 2 days—use razor-sharp teeth to make tiny incisions in their victims so lick the flowing claret. The satiated bats volition oftentimes regurgitate blood to share with those who are hungry. Who said bloodsuckers were heartless?