Why is this animal unusual?
It doesn’t suck. It makes a small, painless cut with razor-sharp front teeth and licks up the blood that flows. Its saliva stops the blood from clotting – the substance responsible is called draculin.
Why does it look like that?
A flat, wrinkled nose with heat sensors that can find warm blood vessels just under the skin of its victim.
Strangest biological feature
It can walk, run and jump. Unlike almost any other bat, it’s agile on the ground, and takes off with a push-up powered by its thumbs.
Why is it strange?
A vampire bat that misses two or three meals in a row will starve. So bats that have fed share with hungry roost-mates by bringing blood back up for them – and they remember who helped them before.
Interesting behavioral facts
A feeding bat drinks about half its body weight, so it starts peeing within minutes to become light enough to fly home.
Records held
Its saliva inspired an experimental clot-busting drug, desmoteplase, that was tested on stroke patients – though it never made it to approval.
