White-winged vampire bat
Diaemus youngi
— Where the name comes from
Diaemus is built on the Greek haîma, “blood”, with the prefix di-: literally something like “double blood”, and the choice is transparent for an animal that lives on it. Youngi recalls the collector who supplied the type specimen. The common name looks to the edges of the wings, white and sharply defined, which in night flight leave two pale lines.
— Facts
- Group
- Mammals · Mammalia
- Order
- Bats
- Habitat
- Tree hollows and caves in forest, near bird roosts
- Range
- From Mexico to northern Argentina, and Trinidad
- Size
- 8.5–10 cm of body, 35 cm wingspan, 30–40 g
- Diet
- Blood feeder — almost exclusively the blood of birds
- Lifespan
- Little known
— Characteristics
- 01
The wing margins are white, and the thumb carries fleshy pads.
- 02
It has glands in the mouth that give off a sharp smell when it is threatened.
- 03
It approaches its prey by walking along the branch, not by flying.
— What sets it apart
It walks along the branch to the sleeping chicken. Instead of landing on its prey, this vampire touches down at a distance and travels the perch on foot with a confident gait, helped by the pads of its thumb, until it reaches the bird’s tail or neck, where it bites. It is the same principle as the common vampire’s, which walks up to cattle on the ground, and it shows what makes these three animals unique among bats: they are the only ones that move well on all fours, because their meal is not taken in flight.
