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Count Batula

© Debbie St. Germain

October is the month when we celebrate Halloween. The night when the myth of witches, ghosts, goblins, werewolves, vampires, and bats ruling the night, come to life. For years movies have portrayed the bat as a ferocious blood sucker or a creature associated with vampires. Blood thirsty bats attack people in Nightwings; Count Dracula is seen changing into a bat, then flying off into the night.

So how did these myths come about, considering vampire myths originated in Europe and vampire bats are only found in Latin America? You can thank Columbus and the early Spanish explorers. When explorers reached the new world, they encountered vampire bats. The explorers would be awakened in the night, only to find the bats feeding on them. When their stories reached Europe, people associated the bat's behavior with vampires. The myth of vampires turning into bats had begun. As a result; the bats from the new world were named vampire bats.

One of the biggest myths is that vampire bats suck blood from their victims. In fact; vampire bats drink blood by lapping it up with their tongue. The vampire bat drinks blood for its protein, not because they are blood thirsty creatures of the undead. A vampire needs about two tablespoons of blood a day. In one year, a typical colony, consisting of 100 vampire bats, can drink the equivalent of the blood from 25 cows.

It may sound disgusting to some of you, but the animal does not usually feel anything as the bat feeds and the bats only take what they need, much in the same way as a mosquito. The vampire bat has a special heat sensor to locate small veins at the skins surface, they never cut deep enough to hit a major vein or artery. When it makes a cut in the animal's skin it releases an anesthetic to reduce the chance of its victim waking up. To keep the blood flowing so that it can continue feeding the vampire bat has a special anticoagulant in its saliva. It may seem cannibalistic, but there is one major benefit that has come from studying vampire bats.

Scientists have discovered that the anticoagulant in the bat's saliva is twenty times stronger than any anti-clotting factor known today. Scientists are hoping that in the future this substance will help people with heart disease. Bats are also food for nighttime predators like owls, which makes them an important part of the food chain. There are dangers from the vampire bat's feeding habits, as well. Bats can spread rabies and when large numbers of bats return night after night to feed on livestock, the blood loss can lower milk production and cause sickness.

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