Twilight, Stephanie Meyers vampire- romance book and film series, is a world phenomenon. Seventeen year old HIgh School student, Isabella “Bella” Swan, falls in love with Edward Cullen (Left), a vampire. But the Cullen family are ethical vampires. Though attracted to human blood; they live on the ethical alternative of animal blood. So here is the question mathspigs:
‘How much animal blood does a young male Vampire need to survive?
First we’ll collect some data. We’ll assume Edward needs the same daily intake of calories as a young human male. According to the Free Library Online article, Best Food for Young Athletes, young males between 14 – 18 years of age need 3,200 Calories per day. We’ll assume Edward needs 3,000 Calories a day.
How many Calories in Blood?
The Mayoclinic explains that 1 pint of human blood contains 650 Calories. So if you donate a pint of blood you lose 650 calories. Blood donation is not, however, a desirable weight loss program. If Edward drank human blood he would need
3,000/ 650 = 4.6 pints a day.
Note: There is great confusion on the Web about calories as the upper case ‘C’ stands for kilo in USA and is often ignored:
1 Calorie = 1 kilocalorie = 1,000 calories
But Edward has a taste for Mountain Lions (Below). How many Mountain Lions would he need to suck on a day??????? Dr Carlisle Cullen (Right), on the other hand, prefers deer. While Emmett Cullen has a taste for the blood of Gizzly Bears(Below). As Edward, Carlisle and Emmett cannot always sink their fangs into their favourite furry food here is some information about a range of possible Vampire Snacks.
Mountain Lion
Weight Range 75 – 275 lbs = 34 – 125 kg
Mid range Weight = 80kg
Gizzly Bear Male
Weight Range = 180 – 360 kg
Mid range weight = 170kg
Deer
Weight Range = 100 – 350 lbs = 45 -160 kg
Mid range weight approx = 100 kg
Barn Owl
Weight = 0.45 kg
Cow
Weight Range = 1,500 lbs = approx 680 kg
Mid range weight approx = 100 kg
Shih Tzu
Weight Range = 9 – 16 lb = 4 – 7.2 kg
mid weight = approx 5.5 kg
Fat Cat
Weight = 18 lbs = 8 kg
Koala
Weight range = 7.5 – 11 kg
Mid range weight = approx 9 kg
Note: In the following calculations we will use a mid range weight for each animal snack and assume Edward can suck out it’s entire blood supply. So Edward can empty an ocelot or koala (He might visit Australia one day and he’d be hungry!!!!) The weight of blood (Bwt)in an animal is 7% of the Animal’s Body Weight (Awt). This information comes from Animal Physiology Maths Questions. . Keep in mind if the answer is less than 1 the snack will last Edward several days. You can work out how many…… think about it.
Ocelot
Weight = 10.5 kg
Coyote
Weight = 12.7 kg
Alright Mathspig will tell you the typical weight of a pig with great reluctance. It is 110kg. But just to wet your appetite here is a little Vampire Snack I prepared earlier.
Edward would need to consume 13 Chihuahuas a day.
Run, Tinkerbelle, run!!! (That’s Paris Hilton’s dog)
