How Is The Vampire Population Sustainable?

I think we can all agree on the fact that the most common vampires in mythology rely on human blood as sustenance, and that their victims turn into vampires when bitten. But have you ever asked yourself how this diet is sustainable? And, more importantly, what would happen when everybody in the world had been bitten?

The main problem is what their food source would be. Without any more humans to feed on, vampires would have to resort to drinking animal blood. The question is whether animal blood would be as nutritious to them as human blood. I mean, there must be a reason why vampires prefer biting humans, otherwise it would be more practical for them to drink from animals anyway. But if it were possible for them to survive on animals, that would raise the question of whether animals turn into “animal vampires” once they’ve been bitten. If they did, that could make for some interesting stories.

However, if it were not possible for vampires to survive on animal blood, they might have to start biting each other. I haven’t heard much about this happening, so I wonder whether, in mythology, there’s something preventing vampires from feeding off each other. Maybe they rely on living blood, and since they’re dead, they don’t have that flowing through their veins?

Going back to my “feeding off animals” idea, it would be interesting to know whether or not “animal vampires” prefer feeding off others of the same species. That is to say, if it would be nourishing to drink each others’ blood. If it wasn’t, and they fed off other species, then there would be some humans who turned into vampires because they were bitten by animals – which is pretty fascinating! But it would again bring up the problem of whom everyone, including animals, would feed on once they’d all been turned into vampires. It relates to my last paragraph, about the possibility of surviving on drinking from fellow bloodsuckers. Except now, we are throwing animal vampires into the mix. Would the animal ones drink from the human ones, and vice versa? Would one stick to their own particular species: cats only drinking from other cats, horses from horses etc.? But perhaps it would be unhealthy to survive exclusively on your own species because of the risk of blood carrying diseases.

That leads one to wonder why vampires seem relatively healthy (if you ignore the fact that they’ve died); surely by now, there would be some pretty nasty diseases going round within the bloodsucking community – since everyone risks spreading their germs while feeding?… Maybe it is because they aren’t alive that they’re immune; their bodies would not be a very satisfying place for bacteria and viruses.

Now, let’s take a few steps back and ignore the possibility of animals “turning.” Perhaps if the vampire population began to worry about a diminishing food supply, they would have to kill their victims after sucking their blood. That way, the victim wouldn’t later become a competitor for food. But this would have to be done quickly, before the human that’s been bitten turns into a vampire. In fact, it would have to be done almost immediately after sucking the blood, otherwise the victim would turn into a vampire and be immortal.

However, let’s assume that our vampire friends are too nice to want to murder us… That would bring about the possibility of humans donating blood to help sustain them. But why would we do that? What’s in it for us? Well, obviously the fact that it means we won’t get killed or turned into vampires is a good reason. Other than that, though, we would have no obligation to help the other species. Not unless we had some sort of agreement, or pact, with vampires. Aha! Now, that’s interesting. Vampires are known to be stronger than us; they don’t need to rest and they don’t need to consume our kind of food. They also that extra feature of longevity, allowing them to work on long-term projects, possibly embarking on lengthy careers that will benefit both their species and that of humans. These traits can enable them to benefit humankind in exchange for us willingly donating our blood (through a hospital, whithout being bitten). Imagine an immortal, never-tiring, physically strong team of capable individuals: vampires, the ideal workers. The possibilities of jobs for them are endless. They could use their longevity to their advantage when embarking on extensive projects like finding cures for cancer, alzheimer’s and parkinson’s disease, as well as mental conditions. Their strength would help when working with heavy machinery and such. Super-speediness would definitely aid them in almost everything, as would the fact that they do not get tired as easily as humans. Basically, vampires would be terrific “workers” and we would pay them by donating blood, on top of a normal salary.

That seems like the ultimate scenario for everyone. If it didn’t work out, though (issues and conflict regarding “exploitation” on both ends could arise!) and vampires started sucking our blood directly again, we would have to bring out the silver bullets… I mean, would you rather have a planet full of vampires, forced to endure the pain of eternity, slowly weakening due to a non-existent food supply – or get out a gun and end their already-unhappy lives before it all escalates? And yes, they can re-die if you use a silver bullet/cut off their heads/burn them/push a stake through their hearts.

Okay, I know I’m probably going to get some pissed-off vampires in the comments section of this post, telling me that they actually ENJOY their lives and would be happy to use their skills to help in the development of human civilization. Well, sorry, but you’re in the minority! Besides, many other members of your species would hate having to help humans. They’d probably break the deal and start killing us.

Oh dear, I can see myself becoming racist now… I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have second-guessed your pure intentions, vampires. You see, I get a little distrustful at times. I’m working on it though!

Those are my possible scenarios and theories on vampire sustainability. There are plenty more, though! Tell me your theories about the vampire apocalypse, and what you’ve been wondering about with regard to what would happen. It would be interesting to find out what questions came up for you. Any thoughts/comments/suggestions would be cool!

Thank you!