Welcome back to another week of Wild Facts!  Lately, all I have been hearing about is Twilight this and Twilight that!  I am so sick and tired of Robert Pattinson and that werewolf guy! I almost didn’t complete a post on vampire bats simply out of spite. Once I calmed down, I thought that my readers might be interested in some of the adaptations of the vampire bat, so here it is.

Just like the name suggests the vampire bat obviously feeds on blood from animals such as cows, horses, pigs and birds.  In fact the vampire bat is the only mammal that feeds entirely on blood, well other than vampires of course! Once the darkness of the night has set in the vampire bats will emerge from their caves and begin to hunt.  They are small, light and agile which allows them to feed on an animal for 30 minutes without the animal even knowing it. The bat actually takes in about half its body weight in blood each night. Don’t worry, the bat will not take enough blood to harm the animal, however, their bites will often become infected.  Although, vampires have been known to suck blood, the vampire bat actually makes a cut in the animal and laps the blood up with its tongue.

As you can imagine, the vampire bat has several adaptations that allows it to be successful at feeding solely on animal blood.  Naturally, it has special teeth that allow it to cut open the animal.  As well, they have anti-coagulents in their saliva to prevent the blood from clotting.  Unlike other bats, the vampire bat is able to fly, walk, run and jump.  This gives them an advantage for sneaking onto their prey.  They should be called “Ninja Bats”!  In my opinion, one of the most interesting adapations is their strong hind legs and their specialized thumb.  After the bat takes in half it’s weight in blood they have a tough time taking off to fly.  The strong hind legs and the specialized thumb actually allow the bat to be able to take flight after a night of feeding. Finally, the vampire bat has heat sensors located on their nose.  This allows them to find the perfect spot on the animal to feed.  I don’t expect to see a romance teen movie about vampire bats but I do think they are far more interesting then Robert Pattinson and that werewolf guy!

Vampire Bats Fast Fact: Did you know that if a vampire bat goes two consecutive nights without feeding, it will die.  Sometimes a well fed bat will recurgitate blood for its friend in exchange from grooming.  Look at that eh, bartering and trading even exists in the bat world.  I will give you two pints of blood if you eat those two fleas and that tick!