The vampire bat is a small species of bat, native to the tropics of Central and South America. There are three recognised sub-species of vampire bat, all of which are in a genus of their own despite their obvious similarities. The common vampire bat, the hairy-legged vampire bat and the white-winged vampire bat are all closely related and share the same unique feeding habits, as they are the only known mammals that
feed entirely on blood. Over time, vampire bats have perfectly adapted
to the consumption of their only food source, with a leaf-like heat
sensor on the end of their nose which detects where the warm blood is
flowing closest to the skin.
The vampire bat is quite a
small animal, with it's body rarely growing larger than the size of a
human thumb. It's wings are long, finger-like bones that are covered in a
thin layer of skin, with a thumb claw that pokes out of the front and
is used for grip when clambering about on their host. Vampire bats
have dark brown to grey furry bodies with a lighter underside, and
strong limbs which enable them to crawl about on the ground with ease.
As with other bats, vampire bats use echolocation in order to determine
their surroundings.
When flying, they produce high-pitched sounds that
bounce of the objects in the area, and it is this bounced-back sound
that allows the bat to figure out where things are around them (it is so
high-pitched that it cannot be heard by people). Vampire bats use
echolocation, sound and smell in order to find their prey, which can be
up to 10,000 times the size of this tiny predator, and it is because of
this that vampire bats have evolved to taking some precautions when
feeding.
Despite being a unique and versatile predator itself,
the vampire bat is still prey to other animals, that can hunt the bat
in the air when it comes out to hunt at night. Large, sharp-eyed birds
of prey such as hawks and eagles are the most common predators of the
vampire bat, along with snakes that hunt the bats in their dark caverns while
they are sleeping during the day. Humans though are one of their
biggest threats, mainly farmers that are known to poison the bats that
commonly feed on their livestock. Source
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