Vampire bat – Desmodus rotundus

Vampire bat – Desmodus rotundus

Vampire bat – Desmodus rotundus

The Common Vampire is one of three species of vampire bats. It owes its name to the fact that it is blood-sucking.

The vampire bat has short fur and shiny and dark brown on top. Its wings are blackish with a gray or white below and brown. It has two growths on the snout and triangular ears. It has no tail. It is equipped with large very sharp triangular upper incisors.

The vampire lives in tropical rainforests where there are farms, forests, grasslands, scrub and gardens.

The bat vampire drinks the blood of farm animals mainly cattle, horses and rarely attack humans. To feed, it lands on the sleeping mammals, makes a small incision in the skin with its incisors and licks the blood flowing with its tongue. The bat vampire secret liquid that prevents the blood from clotting, so it can drink from the measure of its blood-sucking appetite. The injury is painless, the victim does not wake up. The vampire can transmit the rabies virus. The saliva of the vampire bat contains an enzyme thinning the blood very quickly allowing this blood-sucking to eat.

 

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