---
title: "What the sources say about the Common Vampire Bat | AnimalTracks.wiki"
description: "58 claims from the Common Vampire Bat profile, each beside the words of the source that backs it."
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---

# What the sources say about the Common Vampire Bat (*Desmodus rotundus*)

> 58 claims from the Common Vampire Bat profile, each beside the words of the source that backs it. A "..." marks a cut in a quote and [brackets] an insertion.

Profile: [Common Vampire Bat](https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/vampire-bat/)

## Desmodus rotundus (vampire bat). Animal Diversity Web, University of Michigan.

https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Desmodus_rotundus/

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| crosses the ground on all fours to reach it | Desmodus rotundus can walk, run, and hop quadrupedally along the ground (note: tagline; 'on all fours' = quadrupedally) |
| It weighs 15 to 50 grams | Range mass 15 to 50 g |
| a wingspan of 35 to 40 centimeters | Range wingspan 350 to 400 mm (note: converted mm to cm) |
| a body 7 to 9 centimeters long | Range length 70 to 90 mm (note: converted mm to cm) |
| and it eats nothing else | Desmodus rotundus feeds exclusively on the blood of other vertebrates |
| The bat usually lands near its host and walks or hops up to it | Usually when a bat approaches its prey, it does not land directly on the animal, but rather, lands nearby and walks or hops up to the unsuspecting victim. |
| then makes a 3-millimeter incision in the skin | the bat makes a 3mm incision in the skin and laps up the blood from the wound |
| The bite is relatively painless and rarely wakes a sleeping animal | The bite is relatively painless and rarely wakes a sleeping victim. |
| The common vampire bat walks, hops and runs | Desmodus rotundus can walk, run, and hop quadrupedally along the ground |
| Blood only | Desmodus rotundus feeds exclusively on the blood of other vertebrates (note: stats.diet) |
| dangerLevel: Medium | A bite from
Desmodus rotundus
can cause infections and transmit diseases carried by the bat. (note: #670: tier as capability; a 15 to 50 g bat whose bite 'is relatively painless and rarely wakes a sleeping victim'. The harm is infection and rabies, not the wound) |
| tags: echolocation | Vampire bats use echolocation and vision to navigate and find prey. (note: #670) |

## Common Vampire Bat. Bat Conservation International.

https://www.batcon.org/bat/desmodus-rotundus/

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| It ranges through warm tropical and subtropical country from southern Mexico down to northern Argentina and Chile | common vampire bats are restricted to warm climates, and live in tropical and subtropical areas ranging from southern Mexico to northern parts of Argentina and Chile |
| roosting alongside tens to thousands of others in caves, tree hollows, old mine shafts and abandoned buildings | Living in colonies ranging from tens to thousands of individuals, common vampire bats roost in tree hollows and moderately lit caves as well as human-made structures such as old wells, mine shafts, and abandoned buildings. |
| It feeds mainly on mammal blood, from wild tapirs to livestock such as cattle, horses and pigs | common vampire bats feed primarily on mammal blood ranging from large wild mammals such as tapirs to common livestock such as cows, horses, and pigs |
| Proteins in its saliva keep the wound from clotting while it laps up the blood, rather than sucking it | They don't actually suck the blood from their prey, but instead lap the blood from the wound while special proteins in their saliva prevent the wound from clotting. |
| On the ground, it can run at up to 2.5 miles an hour | Using a bounding-type movement, they can run up to 2.5 miles an hour. |
| Caves, tree hollows and old mine shafts in warm regions from southern Mexico to northern Argentina and Chile | common vampire bats are restricted to warm climates, and live in tropical and subtropical areas ranging from southern Mexico to northern parts of Argentina and Chile ... roost in tree hollows and moderately lit caves as well as human-made structures such as old wells, mine shafts, and abandoned buildings (note: stats.habitat) |
| mainly from mammals such as cattle, horses, pigs and wild tapirs | common vampire bats feed primarily on mammal blood ranging from large wild mammals such as tapirs to common livestock such as cows, horses, and pigs (note: stats.diet) |
| Anticoagulant saliva | They don't actually suck the blood from their prey, but instead lap the blood from the wound while special proteins in their saliva prevent the wound from clotting. (note: stats.superpower) |
| Special proteins in its saliva keep the wound from clotting while the bat laps up the blood. It doesn't suck blood at all | They don't actually suck the blood from their prey, but instead lap the blood from the wound while special proteins in their saliva prevent the wound from clotting. |
| It laps it from a small cut made with its sharp front teeth | Their front teeth (incisors) are sharp and pointed, and are used to make small cuts in their prey. |

## AnAge entry for Desmodus rotundus. AnAge: The Animal Ageing and Longevity Database, Human Ageing Genomic Resources.

https://genomics.senescence.info/species/entry.php?species=Desmodus_rotundus

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| In captivity, one vampire bat lived to 29.2 years old | Maximum longevity 29.2 years (captivity) |

## Barquez et al. (2015). Desmodus rotundus. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2015: e.T6510A21979045.

https://doi.org/10.2305/iucn.uk.2015-4.rlts.t6510a21979045.en

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| Least Concern | IUCN Red List category: Least Concern (LC). (note: stats.conservationStatus) |

## Zepeda Mendoza et al. (2018). Hologenomic adaptations underlying the evolution of sanguivory in the common vampire bat. Nature Ecology & Evolution.

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-018-0476-8

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| One of only three mammals that must feed on blood | one of the only three obligate blood-feeding (sanguivorous) mammals (note: tagline; 'must feed on' = obligate) |
| it is one of only three mammals that must feed on blood, a habit called sanguivory | one of the only three obligate blood-feeding (sanguivorous) mammals |
| One of Only Three Blood-Feeding Mammals | one of the only three obligate blood-feeding (sanguivorous) mammals (note: heading) |

## Gracheva et al. (2011). Ganglion-specific splicing of TRPV1 underlies infrared sensation in vampire bats. Nature.

https://doi.org/10.1038/nature10245

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| it finds warm prey through heat-sensing pits on its face | the ability to detect infrared radiation as a means of locating hotspots on warm-blooded prey ... infrared signals are detected by trigeminal nerve fibres that innervate specialized pit organs on the animal's face (note: tagline) |
| Finding a meal starts with heat. The bat detects infrared radiation to locate hotspots on warm-blooded prey | the ability to detect infrared radiation as a means of locating hotspots on warm-blooded prey |
| through nerve fibers running to pit organs on its face | infrared signals are detected by trigeminal nerve fibres that innervate specialized pit organs on the animal's face |
| Among vertebrates, only vampire bats, pit vipers, boas and pythons can sense infrared | Among vertebrates, only vampire bats, boas, pythons and pit vipers are capable of detecting infrared radiation. |
| A protein called TRPV1, which still detects painful heat elsewhere in the bat's body | These splicing events occur exclusively in trigeminal ganglia, and not in dorsal root ganglia, thereby maintaining a role for TRPV1 as a detector of noxious heat in somatic afferents. (note: 'elsewhere in the bat's body' = somatic afferents from dorsal root ganglia) |
| has its trigger point lowered to about 30 degrees Celsius in these facial nerves | vampire bats tune a channel that is already heat-sensitive, TRPV1, by lowering its thermal activation threshold to about 30 °C ... These splicing events occur exclusively in trigeminal ganglia |
| infrared-sensing pits on its face | infrared signals are detected by trigeminal nerve fibres that innervate specialized pit organs on the animal's face (note: stats.superpower) |
| It has pit organs on its face, wired to nerves that pick up infrared radiation | infrared signals are detected by trigeminal nerve fibres that innervate specialized pit organs on the animal's face |
| it uses them to locate hotspots on warm-blooded prey | the ability to detect infrared radiation as a means of locating hotspots on warm-blooded prey |
| Apart from vampire bats, only boas, pythons and pit vipers among vertebrates can detect infrared | Among vertebrates, only vampire bats, boas, pythons and pit vipers are capable of detecting infrared radiation. |
| finds warm-blooded prey by detecting infrared radiation | the ability to detect infrared radiation as a means of locating hotspots on warm-blooded prey (note: vibe.reason (women artists, round 2)) |
| through pit organs on its face | infrared signals are detected by trigeminal nerve fibres that innervate specialized pit organs on the animal's face (note: vibe.reason (women artists, round 2)) |

## Schutt et al. (1997). The Dynamics of Flight-Initiating Jumps in the Common Vampire Bat Desmodus Rotundus. Journal of Experimental Biology.

https://doi.org/10.1242/jeb.200.23.3003

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| Its complex moves on the ground, which include vertical jumps that launch it into flight, are tied to its unusual way of feeding | exhibits complex and variable terrestrial movements that include flight-initiating vertical jumps. This ability is unique among bats and is related to their unusual feeding behavior. (note: 'unique among bats' deliberately dropped: dated 1997, and Riskin 2005 treats vampire running as one independent origin) |
| In a flight-starting jump, the push against the ground can peak at 9.5 times the bat's own body weight within about 30 milliseconds | Peak vertical force can reach 9.5 times body weight in approximately 30 ms. |
| launching it at an average of about 2.4 meters a second | mean take-off velocity of 2.38+/-0.24 m s-1 (note: 2.38 rounded to 2.4) |

## Riskin & Hermanson (2005). Independent evolution of running in vampire bats. Nature.

https://doi.org/10.1038/434292a

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| Bats have become so specialized for flight that they have almost lost the ability to move on land at all. Vampire bats are an important exception | bats have become so specialized for flight that they have almost lost the ability to manoeuvre on land at all. Vampire bats, which sneak up on their prey along the ground, are an important exception. |
| its run is a bounding gait powered by its wings instead of its hind legs | common vampire bats can also run by using a unique bounding gait, in which the forelimbs instead of the hindlimbs are recruited for force production as the wings are much more powerful than the legs |
| an ability that seems to have evolved independently within the bat lineage | This ability to run seems to have evolved independently within the bat lineage. |
| a bounding run on land powered by its wings | common vampire bats can also run by using a unique bounding gait, in which the forelimbs instead of the hindlimbs are recruited for force production as the wings are much more powerful than the legs (note: stats.superpower) |

## Carter & Wilkinson (2013). Food sharing in vampire bats: reciprocal help predicts donations more than relatedness or harassment. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences.

https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2012.2573

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| Common vampire bats often regurgitate food to roost-mates that fail to feed | Common vampire bats often regurgitate food to roost-mates that fail to feed. |
| A 2013 study that fasted 20 vampire bats one at a time | we individually fasted 20 vampire bats (Desmodus rotundus) and induced food sharing on 48 days |
| found that this sharing is not explained by kinship alone | these findings support the hypothesis that food sharing in vampire bats provides mutual direct fitness benefits, and is not explained solely by kin selection or harassment |
| How much food a bat had received from a particular partner was the best predictor of how much it gave back to that bat, 8.5 times more important than relatedness | Food received was the best predictor of food given across dyads, and 8.5 times more important than relatedness. |
| Donors also started the sharing more often than the hungry bats did, which does not fit the idea that they were pestered into it | donors initiated food sharing more often than recipients, which is inconsistent with harassment |
| Mostly by paying back help | Food received was the best predictor of food given across dyads, and 8.5 times more important than relatedness. |
| When researchers fasted bats one at a time | we individually fasted 20 vampire bats (Desmodus rotundus) and induced food sharing on 48 days |
| the amount a bat had been fed by a partner predicted what it gave that partner better than anything else, and mattered 8.5 times more than kinship | Food received was the best predictor of food given across dyads, and 8.5 times more important than relatedness. |
| Donors also made the first move more often than the hungry bats, which does not fit bullying | donors initiated food sharing more often than recipients, which is inconsistent with harassment |

## Wilkinson (1990). Food Sharing in Vampire Bats. Scientific American.

https://doi.org/10.1038/scientificamerican0290-76

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| Two nights without a blood meal and a vampire bat starves to death, biologist Gerald Wilkinson wrote in 1990, unless it can get a roostmate to share | Two nights without a blood meal and a vampire bat starves to death-unless it can solicit food from a roostmate (note: attributed and dated; 'get a roostmate to share' = solicit food from a roostmate) |
| Two nights without a blood meal and a vampire bat starves to death, unless it can get a roostmate to share, Gerald Wilkinson wrote in 1990 | Two nights without a blood meal and a vampire bat starves to death-unless it can solicit food from a roostmate |
| He described a buddy system that keeps food distribution among the bats fair | A buddy system ensures that food distribution among the bats is equitable |