First they find their prey with the help of a kind of internal radar and then they bite their skin with sharp teeth. Of the more than 1,100 known species of bats, only three feed on blood: the common vampire bat (Desmodus rotundus), the white-winged vampire bat (Diaemus youngi) and the red-winged vampire bat (Diaemus youngi). hairylegs (Diphylla ecaudata). The three species (read more about them on the ME website) live only on the American continent, from southern Texas to Argentina. Vampires do not attack humans: the common vampire bat prefers larger animals such as oxen, cows and horses. The other two species advance on chickens, birds and smaller wild animals. As these bats only ingest blood, they cannot survive more than three days without the liquid. Among mammals, vampire bats are the only exclusively hematophagous. They live in colonies of 20 to 100 individuals and are, along with other bat species, the only mammals fully adapted to flight – others, like the flying squirrel, can only glide. This is thanks to the membranes that unite four of the five fingers of the forelimbs (equivalent to the hands). Bats are part of the order Chiroptera, the second largest in number of species among mammals. The name Chiroptera comes from the Greek words chiro (“hand”) and ptero (“wing”): they are therefore animals with hands transformed into wings. From bite to bite, bats live about 20 years.
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1. To get along well when it’s time to eat, vampire bats have a keen sense of hearing. Other species also have good eyesight. That’s right: vision! Contrary to what many people think, bats are not blind, although some are short-sighted. Most see in black and white, but certain species can differentiate between colors.
2. To detect prey and avoid obstacles, bats use echolocation. They emit high-frequency sound pulses through the mouth or nostril. In fractions of a second, ultrasound waves bounce off prey and echo back. The echoes are picked up by the bat’s sensitive ears, which calculate the direction and distance of its target.
3. With prey in sight, vampire bats have a very unusual approach strategy. They land on the ground next to her and walk or run, making little hops. To do this, they shrink their wings and use their hind legs and thumbs. A heat sensor in the snout helps find prey’s most superficial blood vessels
4. Vampires have between 20 and 26 teeth, but the ones that really tear the prey’s skin are the incisors. Projecting forward, these teeth are larger than those of other bat species. The cut is 3 to 5 mm in diameter and 1 to 5 mm deep. And it doesn’t leave those two typical marks like the ones we see in vampire movies
5. Vampire bat bite does not hurt: an anesthetic substance present in saliva prevents the victim from feeling pain. In addition, the saliva of these bats has anticoagulant particles, which prevent the blood from solidifying. With the wound open, the bat licks the blood non-stop instead of sucking it.
6. The meal lasts up to 30 minutes. During this period, the animal drinks 20 grams of blood, the equivalent of two tablespoons. This amount is insufficient to kill the prey, but corresponds, on average, to 60% of the bat’s weight. It’s as if a 70-kilogram adult man were eating 42 kilos of food a day!
UPSIDE DOWN
Unlike other mammals, bats do not walk upright – their legs and feet have not developed sufficiently. For this reason, when resting, to cancel their body weight, they cling upside down to trees or to the ceiling of caves.
FROM MOTHER TO SON
Like the mammals they are, vampire babies suck their mother’s milk until they are about 10 months old. Already from the second month, however, the mother begins to regurgitate blood in her mouth. At 4 months, the “little ones” already accompany their mother on hunts
dubious origin
There is no consensus among biologists as to why all three bat species evolved to drink blood. One of the theories argues that the ancestors of vampires ate ticks and, little by little, began to feed directly on blood.