# Vampires, biologic possibility?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vampires-biologic-possibility/232580>\
**Category:** Great Debates\
**Created:** [March 4, 2004, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vampires-biologic-possibility/232580 "2004-03-04T20:54:18Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![bonzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/45deac/32.png) [@bonzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bonzer)\
**Post date:** [March 6, 2004, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vampires-biologic-possibility/232580/21 "2004-03-06T00:23:06Z")

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> [@The\_Broken\_Column](#):
>
> [African art - Masai ethnic group](http://www.namibweb.com/masaiinfo.htm)
> 
> And typing in “Masai Traditional Diet” reveals nothing but webpages that support the above one.
> 
> I know nothing of today Masai diet except in a National Geographic I saw that they still drank the blood and milk as their ancestors did. But whether or not they are now more inclusive of other foods is pretty pointless, back as early as the late 1800s the Masai were on a diet of only Blood and Milk and no Plants material.

Oddly enough, typing “Masai Traditional Diet” into Google reveals precisely nothing.  
Dropping the inverted commas gets us a bit further. In order, the first page of references on Google is:

> **[Out of Africa: What Dr. Price Dr. Burkitt Discovered in Their Studies of...](https://www.westonaprice.org/health-topics/traditional-diets/out-of-africa-what-dr-price-dr-burkitt-discovered-in-their-studies-of-sub-saharan-tribes/)**
>
> Read this in: Español 🖨️ Print post Dr. Weston Price visited Africa in 1935. His journey into the interior began in Mombasa on the east coast of Africa, \[…\]

Various ambiguous references to the Masai diet.

The subpage: [http://www.westonaprice.org/traditional\_diets/ancient\_dietary\_wisdom.html](http://www.westonaprice.org/traditional_diets/ancient_dietary_wisdom.html)

> [@](#):
>
> African cattle-keeping tribes like the Masai consumed no plant foods at all–just meat, blood and milk.

[http://www.rekero.com/Culture.htm](http://www.rekero.com/Culture.htm)

A crappy reference to a _Mail on Sunday_ article from 2000. Not really great anthropology, is it?

[http://www.infochangeindia.org/features150.jsp](http://www.infochangeindia.org/features150.jsp)

> [@](#):
>
> African cattle-keeping tribes like the Masai consumed no plant foods at all - just meat, blood and milk.

[http://www.lucievandongen.com/Pages/masaipeople.htm](http://www.lucievandongen.com/Pages/masaipeople.htm)

> [@](#):
>
> Traditionally, the Maasai rely on meat, milk and blood from cattle for protein and caloric needs.

[http://www.laubach.org/WIL/Global/hellen.html](http://www.laubach.org/WIL/Global/hellen.html)

> [@](#):
>
> Without fertile land on which to live permanently and grow crops, diets exclusively of meat and blood contribute to the Masai’s low life expectancy.

[http://www.congocookbook.com/c0141.html](http://www.congocookbook.com/c0141.html)

A partial success:

> [@](#):
>
> The traditional diet of the Masai (also spelled Maasai) people in Kenya and Tanzania is derived mostly from their cattle, though they do not often eat beef; rather, they eat milk and blood which is harvested by puncturing the loose flesh on the cow’s neck with an arrow.

[http://www.namibweb.com/masaiinfo.htm](http://www.namibweb.com/masaiinfo.htm)

Your original ambiguous cite.

[http://www.comfsm.fm/~dleeling/ethnobotany/food.html](http://www.comfsm.fm/~dleeling/ethnobotany/food.html)

> [@](#):
>
> In Africa: Botemi and Masai eat meat, and drink milk and cattle blood as their food staples. Called the “worlds worst diet,” the Batemi and Masai consume up to ten times the recommended daily intake of cholesterol.

[http://www.hydroagri.com/en/media\_room/news/no\_news\_view/agri\_focus/greenroad\_en.html](http://www.hydroagri.com/en/media_room/news/no_news_view/agri_focus/greenroad_en.html)

Completely vague.

Word of advice: on the SDMB, if you suggest that someone run a simple web search, someone will. And you’ll look foolish if the results don’t support your original assertion. Particularly if you’ve suggested the search.

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