The first sentence and one near the end are very concerning to me:
Haementeria ghilianii, commonly known as the Amazon giant leech, is one of the world’s largest species of leeches.
One of the largest, not the largest species. One of the largest. How much larger do they fucking get!?
Unlike jawed leeches who use rows of teeth to puncture skin, Haementeria ghilianii uses a 10 centimetres (3.9 in) hypodermic needle-like proboscis to feed.
A 4 inch needle for a mouth. Lovely.
Yeah I saw the 4 inch needle straw mentioned and it’s a damn shame they readiscovered it. Would have been better just not knowing it existed and let it do its damn thing and we can all just blissfully move on knowing there aren’t 17inch long vampires in the world.
TIHI
In the 1970s, Dr. Roy Sawyer discovered two adult specimens in a pond located in French Guiana. One of these leeches, dubbed Grandma Moses, founded a successful breeding colony at UC Berkeley. This specimen produced 750 offspring.
Oh god it’s like Jurassic Park but infinitely more horrifying
I bet they’re delicious
ghilianii is a jawless, blood-sucking leech
We have known that for a while…
