Happy (early) Halloween! To continue with my series on bats, today we'll be talking about the sociology and biology of the spookiest bat of all - the vampire bat.
Part of the reason bats are so associated with Halloween is because the Victorian English public became aware of many varieties of bat with nose and ear fringes at the same time as Halloween was gaining popularity.
While we now know that these features are primarily used to channel sound for echolocation, Victorian European naturalists were frightened by these features and believed they indicated bloodsucking tendencies.
The Victorian public became enthralled with stories from "exotic" South America. Stories of naturalists, adventurers, and bats, especially vampire bats.
The Victorian obsession with vampire bats became such that it became fashionable for women to wear bat costumes for Halloween!
Vampire myths had existed in European cultures for generations, but originally, vampire myths had nothing whatsoever to do with bats. Upon hearing about bloodsucking bats in far-off lands, Bram Stoker included the ability to transform into a bat in his Dracula (1897).
Dracula lore, in both the novel and the early film, was incredibly popular, and this depiction connected bats and vampires solidly in Western Mythos - lending bats their official spooky status.
But what of the reality of these bloodsucking bats? How much has popular lore obfuscated the actual traits of these living bats?
These bats live over most of Central and South America.
Firstly, there is not one species of vampire bat, but actually three; the common vampire bat (Desmodus rotundus), the white-winged vampire bat (Diaemus youngi), and the hairy-legged vampire bat (Diphylla ecaudata).
CW for blood
Even the ability they're most known for - bloodsucking - isn't exactly true to life. They don't actually suck blood, like mosquitos do, but rather they *lick* it. Their saliva contains anti-coagulant compounds that allow blood to keep flowing - and bats to keep licking.
This compound is appropriately titled Draculin and is currently being investigated as a basis for possible blood-thinning medication.
Rather than being terrifying bloodsuckers, vampire bats actually prefer to avoid alerting their prey to their presence if at all possible. They mostly feed when prey is asleep, their saliva contains painkillers, and they only take about a tablespoon of blood.
While vampire bats will feed on humans (you should get a rabies shot if you find you've been preyed upon) if they are available, they generally avoid humans and prefer instead to feed on livestock or wildlife.
Vampire bats are aided in finding their prey by their ability to sense body heat. They have infrared receptors in their highly sensitive noses that assist them in not only finding prey - but finding where blood flows close to the skin.
Vampire bats are also the only bats who have re-evolved the ability to run. While other bats can only shuffle along awkwardly on their wrists and feet, vampire bats have long legs that allow them to run over the ground with a sort of hopping motion.
Blood as a food source is particularly nutritionally-poor, and vampire bats can starve to death if they miss as few as two meals. Contrary to their spooky reputation, vampire bats are actually at the center of research related to animal altruism. To survive, bats share food.
Successful vampire bats will share food with those who did not manage to have a successful hunt - allowing the colony as a whole to survive. Even more so, vampire bats have some of the most nuanced and complex social relationships among animals - all based on rituals of sharing.
As Gerald Carter, vampire bat specialist with the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, says, "Individuals that you fed in the past will come back and feed you in the future, so the bats have a social safety net that they can rely on when they have failed to get food."
This social food-sharing is exceptionally rare in nature, where most animals operate in competition for food with other individuals of their species. Through this food sharing behavior, vampire bats create incredibly complex social networks and whole societies.
Not only do bats remember those who shared with them in the past - they remember those that refuse to share, and ostracize them. Adult males will also share blood meals with females and their offspring to garner favor for future mating opportunities.
Rather than being frightening, these bloodthirsty little bats are cooperative, highly social, and overall, fascinating. If you are further interested in bats, you can learn more in my previous bat threads, here:
As always, doing scicomm like this is part of my job! If you enjoyed this thread and think I've earned it, please consider leaving a tip at my venmo, @AlexPetrovnia!
You can also support me by checking out my etsy shop, where I sell handmade masks, plants, pins and more! For the month of October, absolutely everything in-store is 50% off! etsy.com/shop/MascMasks
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
Today is #NationalComingOutDay, and I've been waiting all year to discuss some thoughts. I hate National Coming Out Day. 🧵
There are a few reasons why but the biggest is this: coming out day places all the responsibility on the queer person to come out, and none of the responsibility on cishet people to do better.
So if you're queer - I see you and I value you, whether you're out or not. You don't owe anyone information on your gender or sexuality. It's not "lying". Please don't feel pressure to come out until you're ready, really ready. I promise it's okay to wait if you're afraid.
Happy Early Halloween! 👻 Earlier this week, we talked about the diversity, social context, and adaptations of bats! For today's science thread, I'd like to zoom in on one particular species and one particular threat to that species. If you live in North America, listen up! 🧵🦇
Myotis lucifugus is a nondescript little bat. Its common name is even "little brown bat", and it is perhaps a bat that most fits the archetype of what we think of when we hear the word "bat". But these little guys are a lot more impressive than they look!
These bats were some of the most successful in North America, with a range from coast to coast and from Central Mexico to Alaska! This is a huge range of different biomes they have learned to survive and thrive in!
Happy (early) Halloween! For today's science thread, let's talk about bats. More specifically, let's talk about the incredible diversity and adaptations of bats. 🦇🧵
Most people are aware that bats are to be found most places where people can be found, but many people don't realize that bats occupy almost every biome and habitat on earth. From rainforests to deserts to plains to taiga - you'll find bats.
Many people also think of "bats" as one animal, when in fact, there are over 1,400 identified species (so far)! It's estimated that bats alone may make up 1/5th of all mammal species, making them one of the most successful groups of mammals currently.
Not nearly enough attention has been paid to how the media this year has reported on trans issues - openly hosting TERFs as reputable sources, constantly painting trans people as a threat rather than a vulnerable minority, and refusing to center trans voices on our own lives.
In retrospect it will be obvious how this sort of reporting was an intentional and transphobic choice. In retrospect this treatment will be considered highly immoral.
But in the meantime, trans people are dying.
Trans people aren't that many. The highest estimates place us at about 5% of the total population. This means that we are especially dependent on allyship for survival.
Allies; you are failing us.
This may be an unexpected perspective, but I genuinely love having ADHD. I love the connections it allows me to see. I love the deep emotional connections it allows me to have. I love the energy it gives me, and the passion.
The majority of the time I spend struggling with ADHD isn't struggling with ADHD itself -- but struggling with living in a world that treats the way my brain works as being "wrong" instead of simply different.
The more I carve out my own space in the world, and the more I make intentional space for my neurodivergence, the more I love it and can learn to love myself, with my ADHD being an inseparable part of my person.