What Do Vampire Bats Eat?

What Do Vampire Bats Eat?

Vampire bats eat blood. Native to Central America, Mexico, and South America, vampire bats subsist solely on blood as a food source. They generally prey on livestock such as cattle and horses but have been known to prey on wild animals and even humans. 

How Do Vampire Bats Feed?

Vampire bats generally prey on livestock such as cattle and horses but have been known to prey on wild animals and even humans.  The vampire bat has a heat-sensitive nose to detect its blood meal and will approach its prey from the ground.  It will then seek a spot on the animal that is least hair covered and will use its razor-sharp incisors used to create a puncture wound in the animal’s skin to draw blood.  The bat will then lap the blood as it emerges from the wound. It has a special anticoagulant in its saliva to inhibit its prey’s blood from clotting.

Surprisingly, the bat’s bite usually goes undetected, allowing it to continue to feed undisturbed, suggesting that the bite itself is painless.  Unfortunately, though blood extraction is not dangerous, the secondary infections created by the open wound can be.

Vampire Bats Are Unique

There are nearly 1,000 species of bats, all having similar characteristics that make them unique, such as being the only mammal with the ability to fly.  But apart from being the only species of bat to subsist on a diet of blood alone, vampire bats have other unique qualities.

• Vampire bats can also walk, run, and hop—behaviors not innate to some other bat species.
• The vampire bat will generally return to feed on the same prey multiple times.
• It will die if the vampire bat does not eat within a day or two.
• Vampire bats have specialized noses equipped with thermoreceptors to locate the areas on their prey where blood flow is closest to the skin.

Resources

• ADW: Desmodus rotundus: Information. Animal Diversity Web. N.p., n.d. Web. 3 Oct. 2011. http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/information/Desmodus_rotundus.html
• “Encyclopedia Smithsonian: Bat Facts.” Smithsonian. N.p., n.d. Web. 3 Oct. 2011. http://www.si.edu/Encyclopedi a_SI/nmnh/batfacts.htm
• “Common Vampire Bats, Common Vampire Bat Pictures, Common Vampire Bat Facts – National Geographic.” Animals – Animal Pictures – Wild Animal Facts – Nat Geo Wild – National Geographic. N.p., n.d. Web. 3 Oct. 2011. <http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/common-vampire-bat/>.