Vampire bats have haunted the human imagination for centuries, but the real story is stranger than the legend. There are only three species on Earth that feed exclusively on blood, and all of them live in the Americas.
From anticoagulant saliva to a rare ability to walk and even run, here are the verified facts behind one of nature's most misunderstood mammals.
Vampire bats are the only mammals in the world that feed exclusively on blood, a diet known as hematophagy.
There are three living vampire bat species: the common vampire bat, the white-winged vampire bat, and the hairy-legged vampire bat.
All three species are found only in Central and South America, from Mexico down to Argentina.
Vampire bats are small, with a wingspan of around 7 inches and a body about the size of a human thumb.
Vampire bats are nocturnal and do virtually all of their feeding under cover of darkness.
Instead of biting hard, a vampire bat uses razor-sharp teeth to shave off a tiny flap of skin, creating a small, painless wound.
Vampire bat saliva contains an anticoagulant compound (nicknamed draculin) that keeps a host's blood flowing while the bat feeds.
A vampire bat can drink roughly its own body weight in blood during a single feeding.
Common vampire bats feed mostly on livestock, such as cattle and horses, rather than wild prey.
Vampire bats can transmit rabies, and bites on livestock and occasionally humans are the main public-health concern associated with them.
Common vampire bats live an average of about 9 years in the wild, and captive individuals have lived well over a decade longer.
Vampire bats are highly social and roost in colonies that can include several hundred individuals in a single cave or hollow tree.
Vampire bats recognize each other by voice and use distinct vocalizations to communicate within the colony.
Vampire bats have a strong sense of smell that helps them locate a sleeping host in the dark.
Special heat-sensing pits on a vampire bat's nose let it detect the warm blood vessels closest to a host's skin.
Vampire bats rarely bite humans and are not considered aggressive toward people; they typically avoid human contact.
Vampire bats are not pollinators; unlike many other bat species, their entire diet is blood, not nectar or fruit.
Vampire bats were once classified in their own family, Desmodontidae, but are now grouped as the subfamily Desmodontinae within the leaf-nosed bat family Phyllostomidae.
Uniquely among bats, vampire bats can walk, hop, and even run along the ground using their wings as forelimbs.
Common vampire bats are known to share regurgitated blood meals with roostmates that failed to feed, a rare example of reciprocal food-sharing in mammals.
Vampire bats are classified by the IUCN as Least Concern, though local populations can be affected by habitat loss and culling efforts.
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