Vampire Finches.



Life on Wolf Island, a tiny speck of land 200 km north of the main Galapagos Archipelago, is so hard that birds there evolved to eat blood to survive.

But perhaps their most important source of food during the extended droughts is blood. The finches begin by landing on the tail of a seabird. They peck at the base of it’s wing feathers breaking the skin and causing it to bleed. As the blood oozes out the finches sip it every few seconds. Other finches line up behind the booby like a queue at a blood bank and as soon as one leaves it’s blood-sucking perch another takes its place.

Link - via Scribal Terror


Previous Post
Get Neatorama by RSS or email
Next Post
this post? Please email a friend  +reddit  +SU 
Posted on October 30, 2006 at 10:58 pm by Alex
Category: Animal

From our new online store:
» More fun T-shirt designs at Neatorama Online Store

One comment to "Vampire Finches."


Want your own avatar? Get one for free at Gravatar!



Neatorama Comment Policy
You don't have to register or login to comment, but it's easier if you do so. We don't censor comment based on your point of view but comments that are abusive, use excessive profanity, or contain off-topic links may get edited or deleted. On some posts, it may take up several minutes for you comment to show up.


Stay updated on the comments in this post with Comment RSS