Common vampire bat

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Common vampire bat
Desmo-Flug-01.jpg
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Chiroptera
Family: Phyllostomidae
Genus: Desmodus
Species:
D. rotundus
Binomial name
Desmodus rotundus
(Geoffroy, 1810)
Desmodus rotundus map.svg
Common vampire bat range

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 bats, the other two being the hairy-legged and the white-winged vampire bats.

Contents

The common vampire bat practices hematophagy, mainly feeding on the blood of livestock. The bat usually approaches its prey at night while they are sleeping. It then uses its razor-sharp teeth to cut open the skin of its hosts and lap up their blood with its long tongue. The species is highly polygynous, and dominant adult males defend groups of females. It is one of the most social of bat species with a number of cooperative behaviors such as 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."

Taxonomy

The common vampire bat was first described as Phyllostoma rotundum by Étienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire in 1810. [2] [3] Another description was published in 1826 as a new species Desmodus rufus by Maximilian Wied, in the second volume of his work detailing his explorations in Brazil, erecting a new genus Desmodus. [4] [5] The species received several scientific names before being given its current one—Desmodus rotundus—by Oldfield Thomas in 1901. [6] It is classified under the subfamily Desmodontinae along with two other species: the hairy-legged vampire bat (Diphylla ecaudata), and the white-winged vampire bat (Diaemus youngi). These three species compose the "true" vampire bats, as opposed to the "false" vampires of the family Megadermatidae and the spectral bat. All three species of Desmodontinae specialize in feeding on the blood of warm-blooded animals. [7] However, the common vampire bat feeds on mammalian blood more than the other two species, which primarily feed on that of birds. [8] [9] The three species resemble each other, but the common vampire bat can be distinguished by its longer thumb. [8] It is the only extant member of its genus, although other fossil species have been described. [3] It has a haploid number of 14, for a karyotype of 28 chromosomes. [10]

A description published under the name Desmodus puntajudensi (Cuban vampire bat) by Woloszyn and Mayo in 1974 was later recognized as synonymous with this species. [11]

Physical description

Skeleton Vampire bat skeleton face.jpg
Skeleton
Skull Common Vampire Bat Skull.jpg
Skull

The common vampire bat is short-haired, with silver-gray fur on its undersides, demarcated from the darker fur on its back. [3] It has a deeply grooved lower lip, and a flat, leaf-shaped nose. [3] A well-developed, clawed thumb on each wing is used to climb onto prey and to assist the animal in take-off. [3] The bat averages about 9 cm (3.5 in) long with a wingspan of 18 cm (7 in). It commonly weighs about 25–40  grams (2 oz), but its weight can drastically increase after a single feeding. [12] The braincase is relatively large, but the snout is reduced to accommodate large incisors and canines. [3] It has the fewest teeth among bats. The upper incisors lack enamel, which keeps them razor-sharp. [3] Its dental formula is 1.1.2.01.1.3.0, for a total of 18 teeth. [7]

While most other bats have almost completely lost the ability to maneuver on land, vampire bats are an exception. [13] They can run using a unique, bounding gait in which the forelimbs are used instead of the hindlimbs to propel forward, as the wings are much more powerful than the legs. [13] This ability likely evolved independently within the bat lineage. [13] Three pads under the thumb function like a sole. [3] It is also capable of leaping in various directions, heights, and distances. [14] When making a jump, the bat pushes up with its pectoral limbs. The hindlimbs keep the body over the pectoral limbs which are stabilized by the thumbs. [15]

Common vampire bats have good eyesight. They are able to distinguish different optical patterns and may use vision for long-range orientation. [3] 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. [3] They emit echolocation signals orally, and thus fly with their mouths open for navigation. [16] They can identify a metal strip 1 centimetre (0.39 in) wide at a distance of 50 centimetres (20 in), which is moderate compared to other bats. [16]

Range and habitat

The common vampire bat is found in parts of Mexico, Central America, and South America, as well as the Caribbean islands of Margarita and Trinidad. [3] 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 southeastern Brazil. [17] 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, [18] [19] and uses tropical and subtropical woodlands and open grasslands for foraging. [7] Bats roost in trees, caves, abandoned buildings, old wells, and mines. [18] [20] Vampire bats will roost with about 45 other bat species, [3] and tend to be the most dominant at roosting sites. [20] They occupy the darkest and highest places in the roosts; when they leave, other bat species move in to take over these vacated spots.

Behavior

Feeding

A vampire bat drinking at the Buffalo Zoo. Vampire bat drinking.jpg
A vampire bat drinking at the Buffalo Zoo.
A vampire bat at the Louisville Zoo. Vampire Bat 12.jpg
A vampire bat at the Louisville Zoo.
Common vampire bat feeding on a cow calf (taxidermy specimens). Desmodus rotundus feeding.jpg
Common vampire bat feeding on a cow calf (taxidermy specimens).

The common vampire bat feeds primarily on mammalian blood, particularly that of livestock such as cattle and horses. [18] Vampire bats feed on wild prey like the tapir, but seem to prefer domesticated animals, and favor horses over cattle when given the choice. [21] Female animals, particularly those in estrus, are more often targeted than males. This could be because of the hormones. [22]

Vampire bats hunt at night, [18] using echolocation and olfaction to track down prey. [23] They feed in a distance of 5 to 8 km (3.1 to 5.0 mi) from their roosts. [24] When a bat selects a target, it lands on it, or jumps up onto it from the ground, [18] [24] usually targeting the rump, flank, or neck of its prey; [18] heat sensors in the nose help it to detect blood vessels near the surface of the skin. [21] It pierces the animal's skin with its teeth, biting away a small flap, [24] and laps up the blood with its tongue, which has lateral grooves adapted to this purpose. [25] The blood is kept from clotting by an anticoagulant in the saliva. [24]

They are protective of their host and will fend off other bats while feeding. [19] [23] It is uncommon for two or more bats to feed on the same host, with the exception of mothers and their offspring. [19] [23]

Mating and reproduction

A colony of vampire bats Desmo-kolonie-baum.tif
A colony of vampire bats

Male vampire bats guard roosting sites that attract females, [26] but females often switch roosts. [26]

During estrus, a female releases one egg. [3] Mating usually lasts three to four minutes; the male bat mounts the female from the posterior end, grasps her back with his teeth, holds down her folded wings, and inseminates her. [25] Vampire bats are reproductively active year-round, although the number of conceptions and births peak in the rainy season. [18] [24] Females give birth to one offspring per pregnancy, [18] [24] following a gestation period of about seven months. [3] The young are raised primarily by the females. Mothers leave their young to hunt, and call their young to feed upon returning. [18] The young accompany their mothers to hunt at six months, but are not fully weaned until nine months. [18] Female offspring usually remain in their natal groups into adulthood, unless their mothers die or move. [26] The occasional movements of unrelated females between groups leads to the formation of multiple matrilines within groups. [26] Male offspring tend to live in their natal groups until they are one to two years old, sometimes being forced out by the resident adult males. [26]

Cooperation

Vampire bats sharing food Regurgitated food sharing in common vampire bats, Desmodus rotundus.jpg
Vampire bats sharing food

Regurgitated food sharing in common vampire bats has been studied in both the lab and field, and is predicted by kinship, association, and reciprocal help [27] In a field study conducted in Costa Rica from 1978 to 1983, [21] vampire bats frequently switched between several roost trees and co-roosted with kin and non-kin. [27] Mean genetic kinship within roosting groups was low (r = 0.03 − 0.11), but 95% of food sharing observed in the wild occurred between close kin (first cousins or higher). Most observed food sharing (70%) was mothers feeding their pups. The non-maternal sharing events were kin-biased suggesting that vampire bats prefer to help relatives. [27] However, non-maternal food sharing is even better explained by frequency of interaction, even after controlling for kinship. Food sharing was only observed when the co-roosting association was greater than 60%. Food sharing appears to require social bonds that require development over long periods of time. [27] Among familiar bats, the amount of food given from bat A to bat B is best predicted by the amount of food given from bat B to A. [27] Reciprocal sharing is most obvious over longer time spans as found in primate cooperation.

Vampire bats also participate in mutual grooming; [23] two bats groom each other simultaneously to clean one another, and to strengthen social bonds. [28] Bats that groom one another also share food. It was suggested that while grooming, a bat might assess the size of its partner's abdomen to determine if it really needs to eat. [28]

Relationship with humans

Taxidermied bat on display Desmodus rotundus 1.jpg
Taxidermied bat on display

The highest occurrence of rabies in vampire bats occurs in the large populations found in South America. The danger is not so much to the human population, but rather to livestock. [29] Joseph Lennox Pawan, a government bacteriologist in Trinidad, found the first infected vampire bat in March 1932. [30] He soon proved various species of bat, including the common vampire bat, are capable of transmitting rabies for an extended period of time without artificial infection or external symptoms. [30] Fruit bats of the genus Artibeus were later shown to demonstrate the same abilities. During this asymptomatic stage, the bats continue to behave normally and breed. At first, Pawan's finding that bats transmitted rabies to people and animals were thought fantastic and were ridiculed.[ citation needed ]

Although most bats do not have rabies, those that do may be clumsy, disoriented, and unable to fly, which makes them more likely to come into contact with humans. There is evidence that it is possible for the rabies virus to infect a host purely through airborne transmission, without direct physical contact of the victim with the bat. [31] [32] Although one should not have an unreasonable fear of bats, one should avoid handling them or having them in one's living space, as with any wild animal. Medical attention should be given to any person who awakens to discover a vampire bat in their sleeping quarters. It is possible that young children may not fully awaken due to the presence of a bat (or its bite). [33]

The unique properties of the vampire bats' saliva have found some positive use in medicine. A genetically engineered drug called desmoteplase, which uses the anticoagulant properties of the saliva of Desmodus rotundus, has been shown to increase blood flow in stroke patients. [34]

See also

Related Research Articles

In physiology, thermoception or thermoreception is the sensation and perception of temperature, or more accurately, temperature differences inferred from heat flux. It deals with a series of events and processes required for an organism to receive a temperature stimulus, convert it to a molecular signal, and recognize and characterize the signal in order to trigger an appropriate defense response.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vampire bat</span> Subfamily of bats

Vampire bats, members of the subfamily Desmodontinae, are leaf-nosed bats currently found in Central and South America. Their food source is the blood of other animals, a dietary trait called hematophagy. Three extant bat species feed solely on blood: the common vampire bat, the hairy-legged vampire bat, and the white-winged vampire bat. Two extinct species of the genus Desmodus have been found in North America.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leaf-nosed bat</span> Family of bats

The New World leaf-nosed bats (Phyllostomidae) are bats found from southern North America to South America, specifically from the Southwest United States to northern Argentina. They are ecologically the most varied and diverse family within the order Chiroptera. Most species are insectivorous, but the phyllostomid bats include within their number true predatory species and frugivores. For example, the spectral bat, the largest bat in the Americas, eats vertebrate prey, including small, dove-sized birds. Members of this family have evolved to use food groups such as fruit, nectar, pollen, insects, frogs, other bats, and small vertebrates, and in the case of the vampire bats, even blood.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Spectral bat</span> Species of bat

The spectral bat, also called the great false vampire bat, great spectral bat, American false vampire bat or Linnaeus's false vampire bat, is a large, carnivorous leaf-nosed bat found in Mexico, Central America, and South America. It is the only member of the genus Vampyrum; its closest living relative is the big-eared woolly bat. It is the largest bat species in the New World, as well as the largest carnivorous bat: its wingspan is 0.7–1.0 m (2.3–3.3 ft). It has a robust skull and teeth, with which it delivers a powerful bite to kill its prey. Birds are frequent prey items, though it may also consume rodents, insects, and other bats.

<i>Desmodus</i> Genus of bats

Desmodus is a genus of bats which—along with the genera Diaemus and Diphylla—are allied as the subfamily Desmodontinae, the carnivorous, blood-consuming vampire bats of the New World leaf-nosed bat family Phyllostomidae.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Big brown bat</span> Species of vesper bat

The big brown bat is a species of vesper bat distributed widely throughout North America, the Caribbean, and the northern portion of South America. It was first described as a species in 1796. Compared to other microbats, the big brown bat is relatively large, weighing 15–26 g (0.53–0.92 oz) and possessing a wingspan of 32.5–35 cm (12.8–13.8 in).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hairy-legged vampire bat</span> Species of mammals belonging to the New World leaf-nosed bat family

The hairy-legged vampire bat is one of three extant species of vampire bats. It mainly feeds on the blood of wild birds, but can also feed both on domestic birds and humans. This vampire bat lives mainly in tropical and subtropical forestlands of South America, Central America, and southern Mexico. It is the sole member of the genus Diphylla.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">White-winged vampire bat</span> Species of mammals belonging to the New World leaf-nosed bat family

The white-winged vampire bat, a species of vampire bat, is the only member of the genus Diaemus. They are found from Mexico to northern Argentina and are present on the islands of Trinidad and Margarita.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jamaican fruit bat</span> Species of bat

The Jamaican, common, or Mexican fruit bat is a frugivorous bat species native to the Neotropics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Davy's naked-backed bat</span> Species of bat

Davy's (lesser) naked-backed bat is a small, insect-eating, cave-dwelling bat of the Family Mormoopidae. It is found throughout South and Central America, including Trinidad, but not Tobago, Guyana, Suriname, or French Guiana. Specimens of this bat had been found infected with rabies in Trinidad during the height of that island's vampire-bat-transmitted rabies epidemic of the early half of the 20th century, but not in recent times.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gray sac-winged bat</span> Species of bat

The gray sac-winged bat is a species in the family Emballonuridae which comprises the 51 species of sac-winged bats. It is found in Mexico from Baja California Sur and Sonora to Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and northern Colombia, at elevations up to 1,500 metres (4,900 ft).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fernandez's sword-nosed bat</span> Species of bat

Fernandez's sword-nosed bat is a species of bat in the family Phyllostomidae. It is the smallest species of the Lonchorhina genus. It is endemic to Venezuela. In 2013, Bat Conservation International listed this species as one of the 35 species of its worldwide priority list of conservation. It is threatened by habitat loss. It derives its scientific name from a Venezuelan zoologist, Dr. Alberto Fernandez Badillo, whose research focused on vampire bats, in particular.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ghost-faced bat</span> Species of mammal

The ghost-faced bat is a bat in the genus Mormoops. It is one of only two extant species within its genus, the other being the much smaller Mormoops blainvillii. They are nocturnal and hunt using echolocation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Little brown bat</span> Species of mammal found in North America

The little brown bat or little brown myotis is an endangered species of mouse-eared microbat found in North America. It has a small body size and glossy brown fur. It is similar in appearance to several other mouse-eared bats, including the Indiana bat, northern long-eared bat, and Arizona myotis, to which it is closely related. Despite its name, the little brown bat is not closely related to the big brown bat, which belongs to a different genus.

Desmodus draculae is an extinct species of vampire bat that inhabited Central and South America during the Pleistocene, and possibly the early Holocene. It was 30% larger than its living relative the common vampire bat. Fossils and unmineralized subfossils have been found in Argentina, Mexico, Ecuador, Brazil, Venezuela, Belize, and Bolivia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rabies in animals</span> Deadly zoonotic disease

In animals, rabies is a viral zoonotic neuro-invasive disease which causes inflammation in the brain and is usually fatal. Rabies, caused by the rabies virus, primarily infects mammals. In the laboratory it has been found that birds can be infected, as well as cell cultures from birds, reptiles and insects. The brains of animals with rabies deteriorate. As a result, they tend to behave bizarrely and often aggressively, increasing the chances that they will bite another animal or a person and transmit the disease.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bat</span> Order of flying mammals

Bats are flying mammals of the order Chiroptera. With their forelimbs adapted as wings, they are the only mammals capable of true and sustained flight. Bats are more agile in flight than most birds, flying with their very long spread-out digits covered with a thin membrane or patagium. The smallest bat, and arguably the smallest extant mammal, is Kitti's hog-nosed bat, which is 29–34 millimetres in length, 150 mm (6 in) across the wings and 2–2.6 g in mass. The largest bats are the flying foxes, with the giant golden-crowned flying fox reaching a weight of 1.6 kg and having a wingspan of 1.7 m.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hematophagy</span> Ecological niche involving feeding on blood

Hematophagy is the practice by certain animals of feeding on blood. Since blood is a fluid tissue rich in nutritious proteins and lipids that can be taken without great effort, hematophagy is a preferred form of feeding for many small animals, such as worms and arthropods. Some intestinal nematodes, such as Ancylostomatids, feed on blood extracted from the capillaries of the gut, and about 75 percent of all species of leeches are hematophagous. The spider Evarcha culicivora feeds indirectly on vertebrate blood by specializing on blood-filled female mosquitoes as their preferred prey. Some fish, such as lampreys and candirus; mammals, especially vampire bats; and birds, including the vampire finch, Hood mockingbird, Tristan thrush, and oxpeckers, also practise hematophagy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joseph Lennox Pawan</span> Trinidadian bacteriologist

Joseph Lennox Donation Pawan MBE was a Trinidadian bacteriologist who was the first person to show that rabies could be spread by vampire bats to other animals and humans.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Infrared sensing in vampire bats</span>

Vampire bats have developed a specialized system using infrared-sensitive receptors on their nose-leaf to prey on homeothermic (warm-blooded) vertebrates. Trigeminal nerve fibers that innervate these IR-sensitive receptors may be involved in detection of infrared thermal radiation emitted by their prey. This may aid bats in locating blood-rich areas on their prey. In addition, neuroanatomical and molecular research has suggested possible similarities of IR-sensing mechanisms between vampire bats and IR-sensitive snakes. Infrared sensing in vampire bats has not yet been hypothesized to be image forming, as it was for IR-sensitive snakes. While the literature on IR-sensing in vampire bats is thin, progress continues to be made in this field to identify how vampire bats can sense and use infrared thermal radiation.

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