Common Vampire Bat

Common Vampire Bat
ナミチスイコウモリ
Character Data
Romaji		amichisui koumori
Debut		Kemono Friends (2015 Game)
Animal Data
Scientific Name		Desmodus rotundus
Distribution		Mexico, Central America, and South America
Diet		Carnivore
Avg. Lifespan		12 years
Read More		Common vampire bat
Conservation

Common Vampire Bat​

Season 2​

Pavilion​

KF3​

Nexon Game​

Gallery

Common Vampire Bat is a Bat Friend that appeared in the original Kemono Friends mobile game.

Appearance

Common Vampire Bat has black hair cut straight around the head at about jaw-level which turns slightly purple, with a fringe at the front. Her eyes are purple, she has razor-sharp teeth as the original animal she is based on. Her top is composed of a full-length sleeves black sweater with cuffs pressed-in ridges as her skirt, a sailor-style collar and a long black cape cut in two piece like they were bat's wings.

She wears black jump boots with purple laces, and Black tights. As the other Friends, She also has her ears and wings that belongs to her species.

Series Appearances

Appearances In Kemono Friends Media

Media		Role

In Real Life

a Common Vampire Bat

The common vampire bat is a small, leaf-nosed bat native to the Americas. It is one of three extant species of vampire bat, the other two being the hairy-legged and the white-winged vampire bats. The Desmodus rotundus also known as Common Vampire Bat roosts in mederately lighted caves with deep fissures, and in tree hollows, but it can also be found in old wells, mine shafts and abandoned buildings. It can be found in both arid and humid parts of the tropics and subtropics, however Common Vampire Bats are limitedto warn climates. D. rotundus uses multiple roosts, mostly within relatively small areas, with a 2-3 km radius. These vampires move preferentially along valleys, males moving more than females. Frequency of movements is probably related to the availability of roosts and climate.

Presently the food of Desmodus appears to consist mainly of the blood of livestock (cattle, equines, goats, sheep, pigs), pultry and occasionally man. The social organization of the D.rotundus is still poorly known. In laboratory, one male always is dominant and repulses other males from the females. The fighting usually is ritualized, the openents knocking earch other with folded wings. In the wild, most close associations are formed between several females or females and their offspring, adult males do not form close social ties in the roost. Females frequent more roost site than males, making associations in many differents places. A variety of social calls is emitted in acoustic communication. Vocalizations are most common between mother and offspring. Vampire bats use echolocation and vision to navigate and find preys. They may also use olfaction and auditory cues to identify preys.

D. rotundus is an agile and stealthy specie, when they approaches their preys, it does not land directly on the animal, but rather lands nearby and walks or hops up the unsuspecting victim. It then climbs up the animal and finds a suitable meal site. Desmodus rotundus usually climbs backwards, or slightly sideways and is always highly alert while climbing. It is light on its feet and moves delicately to avoid detection. Once the site has been chosen the bat makes a 3mm incision in the skin and laps up the blood from the wound. The bite is relatively painless and rarely wakes a sleeping victim. The Common vampire bat has specialized infrared sensors in its nose-leaf. The infrared sense enables Desmodus to localize homeothermic (warm-blooded) animals (cattle, horses, wild mammals) within a range of about 10 to 15 cm. This infrared perception is possibly used in detecting regions of maximal blood flow on targeted prey. Their saliva contains an anticoagulant (known as Draculin) to keep the wound from scabbing over, allowing the bat to drink until it's full.

Regurgitated food sharing in common vampire bats (Desmodus rotundus) was first noticed between mothers and pups in captivity, but was later recognized as an important social behavior among adults. Vampire bats will bond over meal sharing. Vampire bats need to eat every two days, however a hunt is not always quaranteed. As such, vampire bats that have feasted will regurgitate a small amount of blood eacher to the starving bat. The social bond hypothesis for food sharing predicts that vampire bats will make cooperative investments of different types (e.g., social grooming, tolerance for feeding at the same source) within the same food-sharing partners over time, alter these cooperative investments slowly depending on how the cooperative returns compare with other individuals (partner choice) and past returns (partner control), and compensate for inabilities to reciprocate food sharing by increasing other services, such as social grooming.

Trivia

• Though there is little scientific data on the subject, observations by naturalists in the field seem to support the fact that some bats swim in stressful situations but that it is not normally part of their ordinary behavior patterns.

• Only in China, expressed in art and handicrafts, has the bat achieved respectability as a symbol of happiness and good luck.

• Several observations suggest that vampire bats are capable of kin discrimination and that food sharing elevates indirect fitness.

References

1. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2017-1. International Union for Conservation of Nature

2. "Desmodus rotundus" (PFD)

3. "Movements of Cave Bats in Southeastern Brazil, With Emphasis on the Population Ecology of the Common Vampire Bat, Desmodus rotundus (Chiroptera)". Biotropica.

4. "Desmodus rotundus".Animal Diversity Web.

5. Bat facts.Smithsonian.

6."Does food sharing in vampire bats demonstrate reciprocity?"