Have you ever shared your dinner with a friend
who was hungry?
Then you’re more like a vampire bat than
you might’ve thought!
Vampire bats practice hematophagy, which means
they feed exclusively on blood.
But unlike their mythical counterparts, vampire
bats don’t actually suck blood.
Instead, they use their razor sharp teeth
to bite mammals—typically horses and cows,
although sometimes humans!—and then lap
up the blood that escapes from the wound.
Fortunately for their victims, Vampire bats
don’t take enough blood to kill.
But finding enough blood to eat isn’t always
easy.
Vampire bats hunt on most nights, but if they
are unsuccessful for more than 2 nights in
a row, they will starve to death.
Fortunately, vampire bats, just like people,
are often willing to help their friends.
In fact, to prevent a fellow bat from starving,
female vampire bats will sometimes regurgitate
a portion of their most recent blood meal
into the mouths of nearby female vampire bats.
But proximity alone does not guarantee this
behavior.
Vampire bats use a practice called reciprocal
altruism: they learn to recognize bats who’ve
shared with them in the past and they only
share with them.
This includes familial relatives, and current
or former roost mates.
Basically, they’re friends!
So far, in the wild, scientists haven’t
found any evidence that male vampire bats
participate in this food sharing process.
And while the reason for the divide between
sexes isn’t completely understood, what
is clear is that female vampire bats, like
humans, get by with a little help from their
friends.
