Heat-Sensing Vampire Bats

Vampire bats are long known for their insatiable appetite for blood.  This bat needs two tablespoons of blood a day, and cannot survive more than one day without this dietary requirement.  So how does this little vampire make best use of its time when hunting?

Researchers have found that vampire bats have heat sensing TRP receptors in their face that direct the bats to an area, on its victim’s body, that has the highest blood flow.  These sensors form a thermal image in the brain of the bat. 

Interested in teaching your students more about bats? Check out SSR's Vol 41 DVD, episode: Ecology - Bats: Creatures of the Night.  Interested in speaking to students about bats? E-mail Fallon@ssrvideo.com

Source:

http://www.npr.org/2011/08/03/138953002/how-blood-sucking-vampire-bats-aim-their-bites   

Man Fatally Bit by Vampire Bat

The U.S. has had its first reported death from a vampire bat’s bite on record.  The 19 year old migrant worker from Mexico contracted rabies from the bat after a day of work on a sugarcane plantation in Louisiana.  He sought medical care for symptoms and was initially diagnosed with exertion.  He later was diagnosed with rabies, after a series of misdiagnosis, at a hospital in New Orleans. 

The rabies virus carried by vampire bats is the most commonly passed rabies virus to humans, and has been the leading cause in the US for 20 years.  Rabies causes inflammation of the brain and, if left untreated, is fatal to humans and animals. Vampire bats were previously only found in Latin America, but are migrating North because of climate change.

Source:

http://www.cnn.com/2011/HEALTH/08/12/louisiana.vampire.bat.rabies/index.html?iref=allsearch