Vampire bats can give us rabies (1/2 of 1% can) and live in colonies by the thousands! In a year, a colony of 100 can consume a quantity of blood equivalent to 25 cows. They used to prey on wild animals but now domestic animals, such as cows. Vampire bats bite more calves than cows, probably because the youngsters sleep for much longer periods. They’re some vampire bats that have been known for sleeping on humans! The bats can give rabies to humans and animals so cattle are given a needle. The needle won’t hurt the animal but will cause internal bleeding in the feeding bats. Some bats have been smeared in the medicine too. When it returns to its roost site, other bats in the colony groom them and ingest the fatal drug. You might think that all bats are ferocious little scavengers that prey on anything that they see but actually there are only 3 species that suck blood.

The vampire bat feeds on the blood of animals. Cows, pigs, and horses are its favorite hosts. The bat will usually choose to feed on the most isolated animal in the herd since it can’t quite move around. Using its chisel-like incisor teeth, the bat makes a small cut in the animal’s skin. It usually chooses a fleshy area, like the shoulder or neck, where the blood vessels are closer to the skin’s surface. The bat the drinks the blood that flows from the wound. Chemicals in the bat’s saliva keep the blood flowing for the 2-3 minutes that the bat feeds. Often two or three bats will feed from the same wound. In most instances, the host animal suffers no ill effect from the loss of blood, although if too many bats feed on the same animal, it may weaken.

Vampire bats are active only during the darkest periods of the night. It is the time when they are most likely to avoid being caught by suck nocturnal predators as owls. Also, the domestic animals on which the bats feed are often sleeping, and so are easier to approach undetected. During the day, vampire bats roost in colonies, hanging upside down in caves and hollow trees. They will sometimes move from one daytime roost to another which is closer to prey. This kind of activity indicates that vampire bats learn from experience where their prey can be found. Vampire bats also use rivers as navigational tools as they move from one part of their range to another. The rivers are easier to follow than wooded routes, and cattle often graze in pastures near water.

You also might think that there ssssssssoooooooo many bats in the world that they won’t be endangered? Well, actually, some of them are. On Madagascar, There are a lot if interesting animals like cuss cuss, lemurs, bats, wildcats, and other exotic animals. In the night, children fly a kite with the string loaded with hooks to "fish" the bats. Only some people know that bats have pretty good vision and move about with echo location, but just can't see the hooks in the night sky. So as the night creatures fly by, they hit the hooks and their leather-like wings get tangled with the string. They are brought to open-air markets where they are sold. This is legal in that country but other animals like cuss cuss are sold behind closed doors. The bats are used for folk medicine and are sold alive in wooden crates. But what I think is interesting is that all the bats of the colony turn left while exiting the cave, no matter what!

Return to my homepage

This page hosted by Get your own Free Home Page