This remarkable little bird lives on a small little island near the Galapagos. Because they are only found on one island, they are victim of so called ‘island syndrome’. This phenomenon basically describes that anything that lives only on an island will be weird and wacky. Other examples in birds are found in the Kakapo, the extinct dodo and kiwi birds.
The vampire ground finch feeds on the blood of other birds in the area, mostly blue footed boobies. They have a sharp beak that they use to make some cuts in the back of their victim and then they drink the blood. After they made the incision, some fellow finches might show up and wait their turn at the blood hole. The boobies surprisingly enough have no problem with this. A theory as to why this is states that the boobies may think the finches are getting parasites from their feathers, like certain birds do with other animals. Little do the boobies know that the finch is the parasite. They also eat some of the random foot scraps littered around the island but that’s less interesting.
If you want my opinion on this whole situation, I think it’s deeply unethical. Taking advantage of a bird who doesn’t know better but to trust you. Quite literally stabbing them in the back to drink their blood. That is assuming the whole parasite cleaning theory is true. I think it’s just as probable that the boobies know the importance of conserving this unique bird species and if that means donating a little blood occasionally, why not do it.
While looking for images I stumbled across a “creation “science”” article about the finch, I will link that here because it’s a funny read if you know anything about biology.
