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The Vampire Bat
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Jul 21, 2025
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It's time for some scary facts about the
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vampire bat. This is Malcolm Walker on
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Wild but True. This means that if you
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see one, you might want to run away
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because they can't survive without
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blood. But how do they find blood? Well,
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luckily for them, their noses work like
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a biological thermal camera, allowing
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them to sense infrared light. This lets
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them find blood vessels under the skin
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of their victims while they restill
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flying in the air. The veins and
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arteries closest to the surface of the
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skin emit infrared light as they pump
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blood.
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And when the vampire bat flies above its
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sleeping prey, and if you're ever
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bitten, don't blame yourself. Who roam
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around at night looking for human blood
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to drink. The truth is they're mostly
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just trying to stay alive. Kind of makes
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you feel bad for them, but not enough to
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let them drink your blood, right? You'd
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probably feel pretty bad if you were
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bitten by a creature known as the
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vampire bat. But here's something that
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might make you feel better. Most of the
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time when they bite people, it's because
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they got confused. See, most of the time
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vampire bats aren't looking for human
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blood. They prefer the blood of birds
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and mammals like cattle, pigs, and
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horses. And they usually only bite
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humans when they re very young and can
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even find any other type of animal to
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feed on. It can use its nose to find the
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best place to bite into that blood
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vessel. Fact one, it's the only mammal
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that survives solely on blood. But this
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isn't a very precise way of finding
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blood. They can reach speeds of up to 60
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mph and can fly up to 100 miles in a
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single night. So once they spot their
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prey, they can reach them in a matter of
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seconds. And when they bite, they don't
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just bite once. They'll bite multiple
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times around the wound to make sure that
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their blood meal doesn't clot. Then they
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link their fill and leave their victim
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to wake up. Sometime later with two
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puncture wounds where the bat bit them
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and possibly a little bit of blood
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around their mouth. So, how do vampire
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bats make sure they don't miss when they
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go in for the kill? And no, it's not
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rabies. Because thank goodness, vampire
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bats don't have rabies. Instead, their
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saliva contains proteins that keep your
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blood from clotting. And while this is
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good for the bat because it allows them
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to drink your blood without any
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problems, it's bad for you because if
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you get an infection from the bite, you
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could die.
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And in places where vampire bats live,
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people are often bitten by hundreds of
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bats every year, which means thousands
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of people need antivenenom injections or
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they could die. Well, as mammals, we
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have sweat glands all over our bodies.
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When we sleep, those sweat glands slow
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down, but they don't completely stop
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producing sweat. The lack of sweat can
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signal to the bat that there is a tasty
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blood meal nearby. So before they go in
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for a bite, vampire bats will sniff
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around their potential victim to see if
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they're sweating. If not, then it's time
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to attack. And these creatures can
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really fly. These bites are painful, but
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there's another problem that humans
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experience when they're bitten by a
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vampire bat. So far, there haven't been
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many cases of people dying from vampire
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bat bites, but it's still something to
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be aware of. This means that while you
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might think of vampire bats as vicious
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monsters, thanks for watching.
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