Hematophagy

Hematophagy is the practice of feeding on blood. It has evolved in diverse animals, including insects, arachnids, annelids, and mammals.

Blood meal: A quantity of blood consumed by a blood-feeding animal. It is the resource hematophagous animals must acquire and process.
Blood: A circulating fluid that transports cells, gases, nutrients, hormones, and waste products in many animals. It is the substance consumed in hematophagy.
Malaria: A disease caused by Plasmodium parasites and transmitted to humans by infected Anopheles mosquitoes. Mosquito blood feeding enables transmission of the parasite between hosts.
Nectarivory: The feeding strategy of consuming nectar from flowers. Nectarivores obtain liquid nutrients from plants rather than animal blood.
Anticoagulant: A substance that slows or prevents blood clotting. Many blood feeders release anticoagulants to keep blood flowing during feeding.
Hemoglobin: An iron-containing protein in red blood cells that binds and transports oxygen. It supplies much of blood’s protein and iron to blood-feeding animals.
Lyme disease: An infection caused by Borrelia bacteria and transmitted to humans by infected ticks. Tick feeding can transmit the bacteria that cause the disease.
Sanguivory: The consumption of blood as food by an animal. It is a near-synonym often used interchangeably with hematophagy.
Hirudin: A potent thrombin-inhibiting anticoagulant found in the saliva of medicinal leeches. It exemplifies how a leech counters clotting at its feeding site.
Blood clotting: The process by which blood forms a clot to limit bleeding after vessel damage. Clotting can obstruct feeding when a blood vessel is punctured.

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