I’ve read more than one vampire novel in which the vampires can survive by feeding on animal blood. I have noticed that when this happens, they drink the blood of animals like bears, deer, and rats but never any reptiles or fish. Just yesterday I started to wonder why that is.
After a little thought, I realized that these animals are warm-blooded mammals and the others are cold-blooded. From elementary science classes, I remember that cold-blooded animals will sleep or be otherwise inactive if their environment is too cold. Warm-blooded animals have to eat more to produce a constant, higher body temperature in order to counteract against the environment. From this information, I have developed a few theories as to why vampires would choose warm-blooded animals over cold-blooded ones.
One possibility is the activity of the different animals. Reptiles and fish aren’t always active; their liveliness depends on the temperature of their surroundings. Mammals, however, will generally always have the same level of activeness, independent of fluctuations of outer temperature. One could say that vampires live off the life of other creatures. Because mammals have a higher level of “liveliness” (best word I could think of) they would make better food for vampires.
Another possibility relates more to evolution than to the warm/cold-blooded issue. Humans are naturally related more closely to other mammals than to lizards or fish. Vampires may be created to feed off of humans, but bears, deer, etc. are adequate substitutes because they are closer on the tree of evolution than, say, an iguana. One could compare it to vegetarians and tofu (tofu isn’t related to meat, but it’s on the same idea).
The pictures above are examples to help show the difference between hot and cold blooded animals. The colors in the pictures signify differences in temperatures. Higher temperatures are yellow to white while cooler temperatures are more towards purple. The gecko on the human hand is cold-blooded and therefore, the same temperature as the background. In the other picture, it is easy to see that the child is much warmer than his surroundings.
After a little thought, I realized that these animals are warm-blooded mammals and the others are cold-blooded. From elementary science classes, I remember that cold-blooded animals will sleep or be otherwise inactive if their environment is too cold. Warm-blooded animals have to eat more to produce a constant, higher body temperature in order to counteract against the environment. From this information, I have developed a few theories as to why vampires would choose warm-blooded animals over cold-blooded ones.
One possibility is the activity of the different animals. Reptiles and fish aren’t always active; their liveliness depends on the temperature of their surroundings. Mammals, however, will generally always have the same level of activeness, independent of fluctuations of outer temperature. One could say that vampires live off the life of other creatures. Because mammals have a higher level of “liveliness” (best word I could think of) they would make better food for vampires.
Another possibility relates more to evolution than to the warm/cold-blooded issue. Humans are naturally related more closely to other mammals than to lizards or fish. Vampires may be created to feed off of humans, but bears, deer, etc. are adequate substitutes because they are closer on the tree of evolution than, say, an iguana. One could compare it to vegetarians and tofu (tofu isn’t related to meat, but it’s on the same idea).
The pictures above are examples to help show the difference between hot and cold blooded animals. The colors in the pictures signify differences in temperatures. Higher temperatures are yellow to white while cooler temperatures are more towards purple. The gecko on the human hand is cold-blooded and therefore, the same temperature as the background. In the other picture, it is easy to see that the child is much warmer than his surroundings.
Source:
http://coolcosmos.ipac.caltech.edu/image_galleries/ir_zoo/coldwarm.html
http://coolcosmos.ipac.caltech.edu/image_galleries/ir_zoo/coldwarm.html
1 comment:
I think its great that you took the time to develop a theoryfor your focus. It taught me something. As there every been a case where a vampire would bite an animal and that animal transferred into another creature.I know you said this generally wouldnt happen because it's cold blooded, but im just curious?
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