sczlogover.gif (3787 bytes)

© Sedgwick County Zoo, credit: Jim Marlett

Vampire Bat

Desmodus rotundus

Physical Characteristics

  • These bats have no tail, their upper parts are dark grayish-brown with a paler underside. They have pointed ears, larger thumb and 20 teeth.
  • Size of average adult
    • length: 2.7 - 3.5 inches
    • weight: .5 - 1.8 ounces
  • Approximate life span is 9 years in the wild and up to 19 years in captivity.

Diet

  • Wild: blood of horses, burros, cattle and occasionally humans

Behavior

  • Usually reside in caves, but also occupy hollow trees, old wells, mine shafts and abandoned buildings
  • Fly low, only about three feet off the ground
  • Feeding lasts as long as two hours and goes through four phases: selection of animal, licking site with tongue, shaving or shearing of hair, and biting off a circular piece of skin
  • Roost alone or in groups, social units are present in large groups
  • Reproduction
    • sexual maturity: 9 - 10 months
    • gestation: 205 - 214 days
    • usually single births, feed on regurgitated blood at two months, forage for blood themselves at four months

Environmental/Global

  • Habitat: Arid and humid regions of the tropics and subtropics
  • Distribution: Northern Mexico to Central Chile, Argentina and Uruguay as well as on the islands of Margarita and Trinidad off northern Venezuela
  Click here to visit the American Zoo and Aquarium Association (AZA). Click here to visit Sedgwick County, Kansas. COPYRIGHT 2004 Sedgwick County Zoo all rights reserved. No part of this website may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any electrical, mechanical, photocopying, recording means or otherwise without prior written permission of the photographer or author. Unless marked otherwise, materials are from the Sedgwick County Zoo. Sedgwick County Zoo is accredited by the American Zoo and Aquarium Association (AZA).