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Vampire bats can sing a Halloween duet
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by Amy Judd | October 31, 2008 at 11:05 am
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Vampire bats may suck blood, but they do have another pastime; white-winged vampire bats sing duets with each other - perhaps a duet of Monster Mash for Halloween?
The new study presents the first evidence of this singing by adult bats - previously duets have only been recorded in other species between mother bats and their pups.
White-winged vampire bats, the closest living relative of the common vampire bat, appear to keep on singing into adulthood.
"The calls are audible to the human ear, although we can only hear part of the whole sound," lead author Gerald Carter told Discovery News.
"They sound like high-pitched chirping, alternating from different bats," Carter, a University of Western Ontario researcher, added.
He and his colleagues conducted several experiments on 18 white-winged vampire bats, some of which were wild-caught in Trinidad, but are now housed in a temperature and humidity controlled facility in New Mexico.
The researchers used chickens to encourage the bats to sing as they became really vocal when the chickens were around.
Although we don't know what they are singing about, one can only hope around Halloween they are dueting spooky songs.
Individuals do call out to each other in the dark as well. By the end of the study, the researchers could even recognize which bat's 'voice' belonged to which bat.
"White-winged vampires are one of a very few species of obligate blood feeding vertebrates in existence today, likely a reflection of the difficulties associated with securing a stomach's worth of blood from a living, breathing -- and surely unwilling -- large bird or mammal," he said.
"In the wild, successful vampire bats sometimes share blood with their unsuccessful roost-mates," he added. "Such unselfish behavior is rare in animals and the current study intimates that reciprocal altruism among unrelated individuals may be mediated, in part, through vocal identification of individual roost mates."
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Most RecentMost Recommended Comments (5)
at 11:46 on October 31st, 2008
amyjudd, I like this story. It's good stuff. I like this story. Thanks and Happy Halloween.
at 16:28 on October 31st, 2008
amyjudd, once in Belize central america I nursed a vampire bat with a broken wing not knowing it was a vampire bat at first. However the wing healed nicely and I released it back to the wild. Through out this period I fed the bat on insects and it did not want to bite me it became very tame.
at 21:14 on November 1st, 2008
This bat was flying around our house one night. The next day we found it lying on the laundry floor. We took it outside and put it on this tree. It looked pretty weak and after an hour or so it died :(
rocketpics has contributed a photo to this story.
at 17:20 on November 2nd, 2008
These bats were photographed during the International Bat Research Conference in Merida, Mexico last year. Many superstitions surround them, but the reality is quite different! A small animal with extraordinary adaptations!
AusBatPerson has contributed a photo to this story.
at 14:58 on November 20th, 2008
Readers can learn more about the white-winged vampire bat (as well as the common and hairy-legged vampires) in my new book, "Dark Banquet: Blood and the Curious Lives of Blood-Feeding Creatures". There are also sections on leeches, ticks, bed bugs, and the notorious vampire catfish. Those wishing to learn more about my book and my work can check out my website darkbanquet.com.