Of all the supernatural and mythological creatures out there, is it possible that some people will actually evolve into vampires?
I know, it’s a nonsensical question, but here’s my reasoning: Across multiple species, nature has shown us that animals that drink blood are real. Leeches, mosquitos, and vampire bats all exist.
I get it. It’s one thing to say that a few animals have a shared trait, but it’s quite another to carry over that trait to humans. Who knows: Maybe there actually were a few vampiric humans at some point, and evolution weened them out a long time ago. I would find it difficult to survive if I had to drink blood through my incisors every day. I’d probably bite my lower lip a lot too.
I guess I’m just thinking that it isn’t actually all that much of a stretch to think that vampires could exist someday given the evidence across various species in nature. I can see why the mythology exists.
What do you think? In 100,000 years, how do you think the human biology will have evolved?
I’ll humor the question. At the risk of grossing out some people, humans already consume blood all the time. It’s not a big thing in the US, but blood sausage is a thing in several European cultures, and I believe there are other cultures around the world where animal blood is a regular part of their diet. I’ve heard of it as a renewable food source, similar to milk or eggs, where an animal can provide the product without killing the animal. I’ve had blood sausage and did not enjoy it, but some do. Given the animal examples above, all those species (as far as I know) only consume the blood of other species, not their own, which is the same as humans today.
However, if the specific Vampire trait is that the person NEEDS blood, not just chooses it, and if that blood has to be human, not animal, then that would be something that would be a very specialized adaptation that I suppose could arise in very extreme environments, particularly if people diverged into multiple evolutionary lines. One line might be able to process the available food into nutrients that the other line could not, and you could end up with a line of humanity that chooses to serve as the provider of those nutrients to the Vampiric line. Or a situation where a deadly disease affects a portion of the population who need to readily consume antibodies produced by another group of the population.
Humans are more likely to evolve into werewolves, where increased body hair, strength, senses, etc make them more able to withstand an Earth transformed by climate change or man-made catastrophe.
In an infinite universe, all things are possible.
Thank you for indulging me. 🙂 That’s a great point about blood sausage and blood in animal meat in general. And perhaps you’re right that werewolves are even more likely!
Its been done in Science Fiction at least a few times that I’m aware of. Probably the best and most significant is “Blindsight” by Peter Watts – although evoved delibrately, and not the main thrust of the story (which is a really good but challenging first contact novel), but there is also one by Brian Stableford (The Empire of Fear) which has a biological component to the vampirism, and postulates a few living among humans since well into the past.
There’s also The Passage, which I thought was an excellent series.