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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 flea’s body length it can jump

2 Bird species that feed on blood—the vampire finch and the Galápagos mockingbird

20 Minutes a vampire bat feeds on its prey

32 “Brains,” or nerve endings, per leech

100 Teeth in a lamprey’s mouth

50 Dollars, in millions, allocated to states under the 2009 Don’t 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.