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Posted by on Dec 21, 2016 in TellMeWhy |

Why Are Vampire Bats Dangerous?

Why Are Vampire Bats Dangerous?

Why Are Vampire Bats Dangerous? Vampire bats are dangerous because they carry rabies and other diseases and infect their victims as they suck the blood which is their only food, a dietary trait called hematophagy. Three bat species feed solely on blood: the common vampire bat (Desmodus rotundus), the hairy-legged vampire bat (Diphylla ecaudata), and the white-winged vampire bat (Diaemus youngi). All three species are native to the Americas, ranging from Mexico to Brazil, Chile, Uruguay and Argentina.

They have extremely sharp teeth and pierce the skin of their prey so gently that the victim does not awaken. Blood is drawn into the mouth by the almost tubular tongue and the vampire bat’s whole digestive system is specially adapted for his diet of blood.

Vampire bat colony

Vampire bats tend to live in colonies in almost completely dark places, such as caves, old wells, hollow trees, and buildings. They range in Central to South America and live in arid to humid, tropical and subtropical areas. Vampire bat colony numbers can range from single digits to hundreds in roosting sites. The basic social structure of roosting bats is made of female groups and their offspring, a few adult males, known as “resident males”, and a separate group of males, known as “nonresident males”.

In hairy-legged vampire bats, the hierarchical segregation of nonresident males appears less strict than in common vampire bats. Nonresident males are accepted into the harems when the ambient temperature lowers. This behavior suggests social thermoregulation.

Resident males mate with the females in their harems, and it is less common for outside males to copulate with the females. Female offspring often remain in their natal groups. Several matrilines can be found in a group, as unrelated females regularly join groups. Male offspring tend to live in their natal groups until they are about two years old, sometimes being forcefully expelled by the resident adult males.

Vampire bats form strong bonds with other members of the colony. A related unique adaptation of vampire bats is the sharing of food. A vampire bat can only survive about two days without a meal of blood, yet they cannot be guaranteed of finding food every night. This poses a problem, so when a bat fails to find food, it will often “beg” another bat for food.

A “donor” bat may regurgitate a small amount of blood to sustain the other member of the colony. For equally familiar bats, the predictive capacity of reciprocity surpasses that of relatedness. This finding suggests that vampire bats are capable of preferentially aiding their relatives, but that they may benefit more from forming reciprocal, cooperative relationships with relatives and non-relatives alike. Furthermore, donor bats were more likely to approach starving bats and initiate the food sharing.

These findings contradict the harassment hypothesis—which claims that individuals share food in order to limit harassment by begging individuals. All considered, vampire bat research should be interpreted cautiously as much of the evidence is correlational and still requires further testing.

Another ability that some vampire bats possess is identifying and monitoring the positions of conspecifics (individuals of the same species) simply by antiphonal calling.

Vampire bats also engage in social grooming. It usually occurs between females and their offspring, but it is also significant between adult females. Social grooming is mostly associated with food sharing.

Content for this question contributed by Shannon Fry, resident of Aptos, Santa Cruz County, California, USA