Ever since Bram Stoker's Dracula, it has been popular in the West to conceive of vampires

as shape-shifting beings.

Humanoid or human-esque monsters, capable of turning into another species the moment such a form

becomes convenient.

And the species vampires transform into in our myths reflects our view of those animals.

Vampires transform into wolves, bats, big, scary dogs, animals that we already view as a threat.

Animals that fit the archetype of our almost human predator. Animals that fit

in the vampire box. We don't imagine vampires transforming into panda bears or peacocks or hamsters or

anything outside of the realm of dark and creepy.

You certainly wouldn't expect Dracula to turn around and transform into a finch.

Now, would you?

If you did, you'd walk out of the cinema, right?

It wouldn't be fitting.

Today we're going to make it fit.

Today, we're going to talk about the vampire finch, geospisa septentary annals.

I'm Mackin. This is species.

Welcome to the show. On today's episode, we are going to talk about a vampiric animal. We are going to solve a few mysteries, talk about the fact of evolution and the history of the theory. It's going to be a packed show. I hope you enjoy it. And if you do enjoy it at the end of the show,

please consider going to Speciespodcast.com slash donate.

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Thanks for listening.

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