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Feb 15, 2015 Features / Columnists, Interesting Creatures in Guyana
The common vampire bat (Desmodus rotundus) is a small, leaf-nosed bat native to the Americas. It is one of three extant species of vampire bat, the other two being the hairy-legged and the white-winged vampire bats.
These species are the only parasitic mammals. The common vampire bat mainly feeds on the blood of livestock, approaching its prey at night while they are sleeping. It uses its razor-sharp teeth to cut open the skin of its hosts and laps up their blood with its long tongue.
The species is highly polygynous, and dominant adult males defend harems of females. It is one of the most social of bat species with a number of cooperative behaviours such as alloparenting, social grooming and food sharing.
Because it feeds on livestock and is a carrier of rabies, the common vampire bat is considered a pest. Its conservation status is categorized as Least Concern by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) because of “its wide distribution, presumed large population tolerance of a degree of habitat modification, and because it is unlikely to be declining at nearly the rate required to qualify for listing in a threatened category.
While most other bats have almost lost the ability to manoeuvre on land, vampire bats are an exception. They can run using a unique, bounding gait in which the forelimbs are used instead of the hind limbs to propel forward, as the wings are much more powerful than the legs. This ability likely evolved independently within the bat lineage. Three pads under the thumb function like a sole. It is also capable of leaping in various directions, magnitudes and temporal sequences. When making a jump, the bat pushes up with its pectoral limbs. The hind limbs keep the body over the pectoral limbs which are stabilized by the thumbs.
Common vampire bats have good eyesight. They are able to distinguish different optical patterns and may use vision for long-range orientation. These bats also have well-developed senses of smell and hearing: the cochlea is highly sensitive to low-frequency acoustics, and the nasal passages are relatively large. They emit echolocation signals orally, and thus fly with their mouths open for navigation. They can identify a metal strip one centimetre (0.39 in) wide at a distance of 50 centimetres (20 in), which is moderate compared to other bats.
The common vampire bat is found in parts of Mexico, Central America, and South America. They can be found as far north as 280 kilometres (170 mi) south of the Mexico–United States border. Fossils of this species have been found in Florida and states bordering Mexico. The common vampire is the most common bat species in south eastern Brazil. The southern extent of its range is Uruguay, northern Argentina, and central Chile. In the West Indies, the bat is only found on Trinidad. It prefers warm and humid climates, and uses tropical and subtropical woodlands and open grasslands for foraging. Bats roost in trees, caves, abandoned buildings, old wells, and mines. Vampire bats will roost with nine other bat species, and tend to be the most dominant at roosting sites. They occupy the darkest and highest places in the roosts; when they leave, other bat species move in to take over these vacated spots.
The common vampire bat feeds primarily on mammalian blood, particularly that of livestock such as cattle and horses. Vampire bats feed on wild prey like the tapir, but seem to prefer domesticated animals, and favour horses over cattle when given the choice. Female animals, particularly those in estrus, are more often targeted than males. This could be because of the hormones.
Vampire bats hunt at night, using echolocation and olfaction to track down prey. They feed in a distance of five to eight km (3.1 to 5.0 mi) from their roosts, and leave in an orderly fashion; bachelor males are the first to depart, followed by the females, and finally the harem males. When a bat selects a target, it lands on it, or jumps up onto it from the ground, usually targeting the rump, flank, or neck of its prey; heat sensors in the nose help it to detect blood vessels near the surface of the skin. It pierces the animal’s skin with its teeth, peels away a small flap, and laps up the blood with its tongue, which has lateral grooves adapted to this purpose. The blood is kept from clotting by an anticoagulant in the saliva. When feeding, the blood is stored in the cardiac notch. Bats feed for 30 minutes and become so swollen with blood, they can barely fly. They must then hide themselves and wait for the blood to digest and some of the water to be excreted before taking off.
Vampire bats commonly return to the same host on consecutive nights, after marking the animal with urine. They are protective of their host and will fend off other bats while feeding. It is uncommon for two or more bats to feed on the same host, with the exception of mothers and their offspring.
(Source: Wikipedia – The Free Online Encyclopedia)
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