Giant Pet Leech: Man Lets Huge Parasite Drink Blood From His Arm

Video has emerged online of a very unusual pet, a giant leech whose owner apparently allows the parasitic creature to drink blood from his own arm.

The video is thought to have been filmed in Japan, according to the Mirror, but its true origins are unclear. In the clip, a staggeringly large leech, the size of a grown man’s forearm, can be seen drinking blood from its owner. The unidentified man’s arm appears covered in wounds from the leech, which has grown so bloated that it dwarfs the limb. Not for the squeamish, the clip reveals the staggering size of the parasite as its owner (and food source) shines a flashlight over the giant animal while it feeds.

Leeches can grow to be as large as 16 inches, as the Daily Mail points out, and their size is largely determined by the amount of blood they are able to consume. After a leech has eaten its fill, the animal will fall away from its prey in order to digest. Though some leeches are commonly known to attach themselves to human beings, most species actually do not feed on blood, instead consuming small invertebrates.

Pet Leech via /r/videos http://t.co/0AOk1SRJNc #videos #reddit pic.twitter.com/rbBCAzZnoa

— Reddit Subreddits (@subredditsbot) April 9, 2015

Last year, a new species of giant leech was identified in the jungles of Borneo. As the Inquisitr previously reported, the animal is known as the “Giant Red Leech ” to indigenous tribes that make their homes around Mount Kinabalu. A BBC crew filming a special entitled Wonders of the Monsoon managed to capture the giant leech on film as it attacked and consumed an earthworm. Instead of attaching itself to the unfortunate prey animal and draining its blood, the leech instead sought out the end of the worm’s body, devouring it whole.

Though the species remains new to science, researchers believe it may be able to grow larger than the 30 cm specimen that was filmed.

“Very little is known about them,” Ecologist Alim Bium noted, adding, “we don’t know how they hunt, or even how big they grow, because no one has researched them.”

“@Strange_Animals: A giant red leech eating a blue earthworm in Borneo. pic.twitter.com/JKbo6x8Ijz ” totes amazeballs!

— derek rogers (@acherontiadex) February 5, 2015

Last October, a backpacker who had traveled in south-east Asia made headlines when a three-inch-long leech was discovered inside her nose. Complaining of persistent bleeding, Daniela Liverani was startled to find the giant leech in her nasal cavity, having no recollection of encountering it.