# What is a vampire's body temperature? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 28, 2003, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-vampires-body-temperature/164833 "2003-03-28T18:24:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Fiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e274bd/32.png) [@Fiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiver)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2003, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-vampires-body-temperature/164833/1 "2003-03-28T18:24:58Z")
I’m speaking of the _Buffy the Vampire Slayer_ canon, since it’s what I’m most familiar with, but I imagine this thread is generalizable to other mythologies. We know vampires aren’t technically alive, and people sometimes allude their lack of typical body heat, but it occurs to me we shouldn’t assume they are room temperature. Vampires’ muscles still move and their neurons still fire (because we know they think). They can talk, therefore they respire, whether they need to or not. All of these actions generate heat. Can we calculate from this how warm a vampire should be? ---
**Author:** ![Yorikke](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yorikke/32/4335_2.png) [@Yorikke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yorikke)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2003, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-vampires-body-temperature/164833/2 "2003-03-28T18:29:23Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Fiver \* > \*\*Can we calculate from this how warm a vampire should be? \*\* No. hrh ---
**Author:** ![Misery\_Loves\_Co](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7cd45c/32.png) [@Misery\_Loves\_Co](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Misery_Loves_Co)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2003, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-vampires-body-temperature/164833/3 "2003-03-28T18:37:00Z")
Simply as I can’t let such a troggish 1st reply go unrejoined: Sure you can - You just need to calculate the rough expendature of energy spent by, for instance, breathing, calculate what percentage of that energy is transferred as heat into breath. The rest should be what is turned into heat by muscle contractions. Add this to the ambient temperature and there ya go! You’d have to also add other energy expendatures such as walking, blinking, twiddling fingers, artfulling arching an eyebrow, etc. Now the actual excercise of this is beyond my knowledge. Bio/Med Goths out there? Anyone? ---
**Author:** ![Yorikke](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yorikke/32/4335_2.png) [@Yorikke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yorikke)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2003, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-vampires-body-temperature/164833/4 "2003-03-28T18:48:36Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Misery Loves Co. \* > \*\*Simply as I can’t let such a troggish 1st reply go unrejoined: > \*\* Hey, now, the Troggs did “Wild Thing,” right? That’s a good song! hrh ---
**Author:** ![Fiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e274bd/32.png) [@Fiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiver)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2003, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-vampires-body-temperature/164833/5 "2003-03-28T18:56:43Z")
Well now, of course, I wasn’t looking for the complex math; I was thinking more generally about Angel/Buffy, Buffy/Spike and other instances where humans and vampires have interacted physically. Kissin’ and huggin’ on a cold corpse would be rather uncomfortable, I think; probably much like lying on an unheated waterbed (which I’ve done, and wouldn’t repeat, thank you very much). Far from being too cold, I’m thinking a vampire may well be _hotter_ than room temperature. Wasn’t it stated once that vampires don’t sweat? That would mean they’ve no mechanism for getting rid of waste heat, other than exhaling, like dogs. And that’s probably not very efficient. ---
**Author:** ![kasuo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/8c91f0/32.png) [@kasuo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kasuo)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2003, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-vampires-body-temperature/164833/6 "2003-03-28T18:59:14Z")
A wizard did it. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2003, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-vampires-body-temperature/164833/7 "2003-03-28T19:28:09Z")
In Bram Stoker’s [Dracula](http://www.literature.org/authors/stoker-bram/dracula/chapter-02.html), Jonathan Harker comments on how cold the Count’s hand felt: > [@](#): > > “Welcome to my house! Enter freely and of your own free will!” He made no motion of stepping to meet me, but stood like a statue, as though his gesture of welcome had fixed him into stone. The instant, however, that I had stepped over the threshold, he moved impulsively forward, and holding out his hand grasped mine with a strength which made me wince, an effect which was not lessened by the fact that it seemed cold as ice, more like the hand of a dead than a living man. So this implies that Dracula was a walking corpse. ---
**Author:** ![Fiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e274bd/32.png) [@Fiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiver)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2003, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-vampires-body-temperature/164833/8 "2003-03-28T19:47:00Z")
Yeah, but Dracula lived in a cold, drafty castle anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Yorikke](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yorikke/32/4335_2.png) [@Yorikke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yorikke)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2003, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-vampires-body-temperature/164833/9 "2003-03-28T19:48:07Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by kasuo \* > \*\*A wizard did it. \*\* In the first shot, Xena is riding a wing-ed Appaloosa. In the next, she is CLEARLY riding a wing-ed Arabian. Please to EXPLAIN IT! hrh ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2003, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-vampires-body-temperature/164833/10 "2003-03-28T19:50:58Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Fiver \* > \*\*Yeah, but Dracula lived in a cold, drafty castle anyway. \*\* Actually, he didn’t: > [@](#): > > At the end of this he threw open a heavy door, and I rejoiced to see within a well-lit room in which a table was spread for supper, and on whose mighty hearth a great fire of logs, freshly replenished, flamed and flared. > > The Count halted, putting down my bags, closed the door, and crossing the room, opened another door, which led into a small octagonal room lit by a single lamp, and seemingly without a window of any sort. Passing through this, he opened another door, and motioned me to enter. It was a welcome sight. For here was a great bedroom well lighted and warmed with another log fire, also added to but lately, for the top logs were fresh, which sent a hollow roar up the wide chimney. Warm and cozy. Of course, _Buffy_’s mythology is considerably different from the original. For one thing, sunlight did not kill Dracula. ---
**Author:** ![Flutterby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Flutterby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flutterby)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2003, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-vampires-body-temperature/164833/11 "2003-03-28T19:53:15Z")
Well, from V:tM 3rd edition canon I’d say that Vampires are colder then normal humans, probably close to room temperature though they’d have to be slightly above (to keep from completely freezing in their tracks right?) There _are_ Merits and Flaws having to do with cold/lifelikeness in the vampires. Blush of Health gives us the idea that vampires are closer to room temp (and according to my ST friend who just wandered over to see what I’m doing with a book balanced on my knee and typing, they are room temp.) The Merits and Flaws can adjust this though. As I mentioned, Blush of Health. You retain a flush of life to your skin and you only feel slightly cool. (Under this heading it also states that other vampires become pallid and gaunt). Then there is the opposite… Touch of Frost. “Your chilling caress pulls away heat and kills plants” Mainly an eerie affect but it says you should mention your ice cold touch to anyone who has physical contact. So yeah… either cold or room temp would be the average. In Buffyverse… who knows. ---
**Author:** ![Fiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e274bd/32.png) [@Fiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiver)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2003, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-vampires-body-temperature/164833/12 "2003-03-28T20:09:22Z")
**RealityChuck** : > [@](#): > > \*\*Actually, he didn’t: > Warm and cozy. Then the Count should have been sopping with condensation! And leaving puddles wherever he stood still for any length of time. ---
**Author:** ![Misery\_Loves\_Co](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7cd45c/32.png) [@Misery\_Loves\_Co](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Misery_Loves_Co)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2003, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-vampires-body-temperature/164833/13 "2003-03-28T20:15:19Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Fiver \* > \*\*Well now, of course, I wasn’t looking for the complex math; \*\* Sorry - _you_ opened the can of worms! \*\*Far from being too cold, I’m thinking a vampire may well be _hotter_ than room temperature. Wasn’t it stated once that vampires don’t sweat? That would mean they’ve no mechanism for getting rid of waste heat, other than exhaling, like dogs. And that’s probably not very efficient. \*\* [/QUOTE] Yes, but even cold-blooded animals (which also don’t have internal heat-regulation systems) don’t overheat. In order for vampires to be hotter than room-temperature, then they’d have to generate more body-heat than they could get rid of by radiating it through passive heat-echange. If a system does not have energy entering it then it finds equilibrium with it’s surrounding. That’s why when you take a hot pan off the stove, it cools down rather than getting hotter. A vampire should have more than enough body-mass to offset the small caloric or temperature gain from any ingested blood. They would always be just about room temperature, aside from a miniscule change post-feeding. In order for vampires to exist they _must_ be supernatural creatures whose physiques behave in non-medically normal ways. So the whole body-temp issue becomes a question of how much body temp is imparted by their supernatural properties. Absent that, they’re room temperature given normal biophysics. ---
**Author:** ![Misery\_Loves\_Co](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7cd45c/32.png) [@Misery\_Loves\_Co](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Misery_Loves_Co)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2003, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-vampires-body-temperature/164833/14 "2003-03-28T20:17:42Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Fiver \* > \*\*Well now, of course, I wasn’t looking for the complex math; \*\* Sorry - _you_ opened the can of worms! 😃 > [@](#): > > \*\*Far from being too cold, I’m thinking a vampire may well be _hotter_ than room temperature. Wasn’t it stated once that vampires don’t sweat? That would mean they’ve no mechanism for getting rid of waste heat, other than exhaling, like dogs. And that’s probably not very efficient. \*\* Yes, but even cold-blooded animals (which also don’t have internal heat-regulation systems) don’t overheat. In order for vampires to be hotter than room-temperature, then they’d have to generate more body-heat than they could get rid of by radiating it through passive heat-echange. If a system does not have energy entering it then it finds equilibrium with it’s surrounding. That’s why when you take a hot pan off the stove, it cools down rather than getting hotter. A vampire should have more than enough body-mass to offset the small caloric or temperature gain from any ingested blood. They would always be just about room temperature, aside from a miniscule change post-feeding. In order for vampires to exist they _must_ be supernatural creatures whose physiques behave in non-medically normal ways. So the whole body-temp issue becomes a question of how much body temp is imparted by their supernatural properties. Absent that, they’re room temperature given normal biophysics. ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2003, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-vampires-body-temperature/164833/15 "2003-03-28T20:18:06Z")
The problem is that we’re unclear exactly what powers a vampire’s metabolism. They can’t be killed by a metal sword through the heart, but are vulnerable to a wooden stake. This suggests there’s a magical component keeping them moving around. They need blood - it’s doubtful that it’s just for the protein. What would happen to a starving vampire? Would they get thinner? Can they die of starvation? Once again I must say how disappointed I am that the Initiative was screwed up by Dr. Walsh. It was the perfect facility to test, measure, experiment, and develop a scientifically grounded theory that explained these things. But given the paucity of information at our disposal, I am afraid we must conclude for the moment that … a wizard did it. - Rick ---
**Author:** ![Misery\_Loves\_Co](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7cd45c/32.png) [@Misery\_Loves\_Co](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Misery_Loves_Co)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2003, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-vampires-body-temperature/164833/16 "2003-03-28T20:19:53Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Fiver \* > \*\ ***RealityChuck** : > Then the Count should have been sopping with condensation! And leaving puddles wherever he stood still for any length of time. \*\* And boy was he EVER!! It’s a little known secret that vampires spend a _fortune_ in those little moisture-absorbent packages!! ---
**Author:** ![Flutterby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Flutterby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flutterby)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2003, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-vampires-body-temperature/164833/17 "2003-03-28T20:28:30Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Bricker \* > What would happen to a starving vampire? Would they get thinner? Can they die of starvation? Once again with the V:tM canon… When a vampire starves it eventually gives way to the ‘Beast’. It’s inner animal that merely lives for the bloodlust and the sating of that lust. So they go into frenzy. Meaning they become animals, they hunt with no subtlety. The first moving thing that has blood calls to them and they pounce and rip it to shreds (or something similar) and are very messy. They are harder to take down because of this (pain is more easily ignored, adrenaline rushes making them even more stronger then usual, though if they have powers they are less able to use them unless they are physical) If they get enough blood, eventually they will come back to themselves. But if they don’t they will either be killed because they are less likely to take shelter at appropriate times or will be taken down by other vampres, Hunters, werewolves, mages or whatever else that could harm them. That or they go into Torpor (fall asleep) for an indefinate period… could be a month could be a few centuries. Staking them and dumping them in a crypt will keep them immobilized and into torpor until someone digs up the wrong place and wakes them. Or heck, I’d assume that the wood would rot away eventually letting them move again! [sub]I’m getting all hyped now. Purgatory, the Dark Ages vampire game I play is tonight and because of this thread I’m getting too hyped to sleep. Which is bad since I need to work tonight after the game and wont be _allowed_ to sleep until 7:30 or so when I get home from work tomorrow morning.[/sub] ---
**Author:** ![Doublemint](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5ac83/32.png) [@Doublemint](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doublemint)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2003, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-vampires-body-temperature/164833/18 "2003-03-28T21:31:46Z")
The problem with this is we’re working from too many disparate sources, Buffy, Bram, Masquarade, we may as well bring in the movies in the form of John Carpenter and Quntin Tarentino and their takes on the vamps just to muddy things further. Since the little buggers are fictional, you can pretty much claim whatever you like about their physiology and there is no one who can dispute you. I’ve read some who claim that vampire weaknesses decrease as it ages ie 1000 year old vamps are less likely to flambe in direct sulight and other stories where just the opposite is true ie that same 1000 year old would go off like a bomb if he stepped out for a bit of sun. In any case, everything I’ve ever read holds that vampires are paler and colder than a living being. And of course they don’t sweat, who knows any dead guys who can sweat? The only fluid they have in their bodies anymore is blood, and that is imported 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2003, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-vampires-body-temperature/164833/19 "2003-03-28T21:43:33Z")
Vampires are any temperature the writer needs them to be to drive the plot. Damn those writers! ---
**Author:** ![The\_Asbestos\_Mango](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/edb3f5/32.png) [@The\_Asbestos\_Mango](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Asbestos_Mango)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2003, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-vampires-body-temperature/164833/20 "2003-03-28T22:07:07Z")
Actually, due to heat friction caused by muscle movement, I think a vampire’s body temp would be slightly higher than room temperature. And, due to the body mass factor, if the vampire were in a chilly environment, he/she/it probably wouldn’t lose a lot of that body temp unless they were out in the cold for at least a few hours. [Of course, if said vampire snuggled up to something, or someone, warm](http://www.geocities.com/saffire457/lamb), his body temperature might increase considerably. BTW, having read _Dracula_, I was left with the impression that the cozy room with a fire and dinner laid out was strictly for Jonathan Harker’s benefit. The Count himself slept in a coffin in a drafty old chapel/crypt. [sub]Yes, Thea does have other aliases, and yes, one of those aliases writes fanfic, and yes, Thea is a whore who will take even the lamest opportunity to create a link to said fanfic so others will read it. Thus, Thea is not going to tell you exactly where the, erm, snuggling is. You have to read the story and find the snuggling yourself.[/sub] [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-vampires-body-temperature/164833.md?page=2)