Smithsonian Curator Anna Phillips is on a quest to make leeches less repulsive to the public. Erin I. Garcia de Jesus Smithsonian Curator Anna Phillips wants people to be less scared of blood-sucking ...

Andrew Plucinski’s leeches are picky about skin. When offered the chance to bite a person who bathes in smelly soap they recoil, even when they’re hungry. Leeches prefer their humans unseasoned. In ...

Macrobdella mimicus, the first new species of medicinal leech discovered in over 40 years. (The Smithsonian Institution) Macrobdella mimicus, the first new species of medicinal leech discovered in ...

A chance video by a grad student relishing her first big field trip might help resolve an argument that’s raged among biologists for more than a century. The question: Can leeches jump? Yes, at least ...

An armed burglar in Australia has pleaded guilty to breaking into the home of an elderly woman in 2001 after being caught using evidence from a leech. The bloodsucking creature was found beside a safe ...

A newly discovered bloodsucking, olive-green leech with three jaws and as many as 59 teeth has been found about 40 miles outside of downtown Washington. A team led by a researcher at the Smithsonian's ...