Attack of the Bloodsuckers!

Learn about mosquitoes, fleas, ticks, leeches, and other bloodsucking parasites in this skin-crawling exhibition. Learn the what, why, who, and when of how parasites live, work, and play at the EcoTarium’s new featured exhibition, Attack of the Bloodsuckers! opening on January 17, 2026.

Stinky feet can make you more attractive — to a hungry mosquito, that is! Visitors to Attack of the Bloodsuckers! will discover the biological wonders of sanguivores—creatures that eat blood—through encounters with live species and interactive exhibits.

With this exhibit, visitors can look a real leech in the mouth, receive a big hug from a giant, inflating tick, get itchy and knotty with the life-size game of “Twitcher” — a buggy variation on Twister™, watch mosquito larvae perform their little water ballet, measure the invisible carbon dioxide gas in their breath to learn how mosquitoes follow this gas trail to locate a target, and more!

Attack of the Bloodsuckers! also provides visitors with helpful hints for avoiding these sometimes annoying creatures. Simple precautions like keeping your yard free of standing water, where mosquitoes breed, and checking yourself carefully for deer ticks before they can transmit Lyme disease go a long way toward keeping you comfortable and safe.

We all need food to survive, and animals that eat blood are no different. In fact, most of them manage to leave their prey alive, which is more than most of us can say! With about 20 grams of protein in every drop, human blood is high-energy fuel for the animals who’ve adapted to eating it — and they have adapted in some pretty amazing ways: black flies, for example, use scissor-like jaws to create a wound in the skin, then lick up the resulting pool of blood. Ticks can swell up to 600 times their original size!

Beyond our Basin are a myriad of other sanguinivorous species—from the Amazon Basin to the mountains of Czechoslovakia—each one adapted to feeding in its own unique way. The Espanola mockingbird, endemic to the Galapagos Islands, feeds on other birds, iguanas, sea lions, and the occasional researcher. Brazil boasts the teeny-tiny, but very persistent, vampire fish. Even certain butterflies have a taste for blood! The incredible biodiversity of bloodsuckers is sure to amaze and impress. While we can’t guarantee you’ll want to make friends with these critters, you’re sure to respect them after experiencing Attack of the Bloodsuckers!.

This exhibit is included with admission.

Get Tickets for the Ribbon Cutting on January 16

Attack of the Bloodsuckers! is produced by EEC!—the Environmental Exhibit Collaborative (ECHO Lake Aquarium and Science Center, Burlington, Vermont; EcoTarium, Worcester, Massachusetts; and the Children’s Museum of Maine, Portland, Maine)—and made possible by grants from Jane’s Trust, Cabot Family Charitable Trust, and the U.S. Institute for Museum and Library Services. Touring in partnership with Sciencenter, Ithaca, NY.