9 Amazing Facts About Blood

Blood is cool, blood is fun, blood is inside everyone! If you have none, then you're dead, but let's learn some crazy interesting stuff about blood instead: 

1. There Are Many Colors of Blood!
Blood comes in many colors when you have your period! Aside from ombre shades of red from deep maroon to cheery cherry, we humans can also unleash black, brown, gray, pink and orange blood! And of course deoxygenated blood appears blue in color when seen through our veins (it's actually just dark red).

2. Human Blood has Gold In it!
We know human blood is valuable and has iron (which gives it that fab red color) but did you know blood also has traces of other heavy metals -- like gold? The average human has 0.2 mg of gold running through their arteries and veins. You are so extra.

3. Cows Have Waaay More Blood Types Than Humans
Humans have 4 blood types, A, B, AB, O and cows have 11 major blood groups, with one group containing 60 different subtypes. It just isn't fair. I mean, they already have 4 stomachs. 

4. Some People Drink Human Blood!
Maybe you've heard of blood sausage or soup, but have you heard of people drinking their own blood? There are three names for it: auto-vampirism, autohemophagia and "medical sanguinarians." The first is a fetish, second a mental health condition and third is people who drink blood as a health benefit. Blood is not good to drink because it has toxic levels of iron. How about a nice glass of tomato juice instead?

5. Mosquitos Prefer Certain Blood Types
If you're a mosquito magnet, it might be because mosquitos prefer type 0 blood, the most common blood type. Type 0 is also a fav of blood donation orgs, since type 0 can be given to any other blood type. So go give, ya universal donors, don't let the mosquitos have all the juice.

6. Cute Animals That Suck Blood
IDK, are bats cute? Bedbugs and ticks have faces only a mother could love, but how about a vampire finch or bat? Here's the bloodsucking all-stars, from cutest to ugliest: oxpecker, vampire finch, vampire bat, vampire SNAIL (yes), mosquito (harmful as they may be, they are cool looking!), lamprey (think of their glamorous sculptural shape!), leech (yes, they rank high on the icky factor, but again, just look at that smooth minimalist shape), ticks, fleas and bedbugs.

7. Your Cornea Has No Blood Supply
There is one single body part where blood does not go -- your cornea! This part of your eyeball doesn't need blood, because it sucks oxygen right out of the air. WUT.

8. Rainbow Animal Blood Colors!
Red blood for humans, violet for some marine worms, blue for squids and spiders, green for worms and leeches, yellow for butterflies and insects, black for brachiopods. The animal kingdom does not serve up orange blood, so leave it to us menstruators to finish up the complete rainbow!

9. You Have a Lot of It
Your body makes 17 million red blood cells every second and you have 1.5 gallons of it sloshing around inside your body. Donating blood takes 8-10 minutes and you get free snacks at Red Cross. When you give the gift of blood, they are not supposed to give you anything, but sometimes they have cute blood donor giveaways so you can flex your hawt blood donor status.