Vampire Bats Vs. Vampires!

Written By: Aimee Turcotte
Bats are creatures that some individuals believe are ‘bewitching’ or ‘bizarre’ and therefore, are a perfect symbol of Halloween. In fact, bats are frequently associated with vampires. Depictions of bats as vampires appeared in many cultures as far back as prehistoric times. For instance, there is a myth about a blood-feeding Philippine manananggal who would cleave the upper part of her body and then grow bat-like wings for flight (1.). The perception of vampires changed in Eastern Europe in the 18th century when horror stories would describe vampires as undead shapeshifters who would be active during the night. Like the Phillippine manananggal, Eastern European vampires transformed into bats for easier travel and for drinking the blood of the living (1.). By the 19th century, vampires became popular in Gothic fiction. In the early 20th century, Dracula became one of the most famous vampires in Gothic fiction. He turned into a bat multiple times in Bram Stocker’s 1897 novel “Dracula” to avoid being recognized and to travel efficiently (2.). Moreover, bats are often misunderstood because they are frequently mentioned in vampire stories as being associated with death and the underworld due to their nocturnal nature (3., 9.).​

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In conclusion, Bram Stocker may have chosen Dracula to become a bat because of the bat's connection with darkness and the supernatural; and the vampire’s nocturnal behavior and avoidance of sunlight (4.). Now, how does the vampire myth relate to bats? There are Vampire Bats who are haematophagic (strictly feed on blood) just like a vampire (9.). In this blog, we will be discussing the relationship between the Vampire Bats and the vampire myth.

When were Vampire Bats first observed by humans? In 1519, Hernan Cortes, a Spanish Conquistador, and his knights spent a night in Mexico (5.). During the night, there were Vampire Bats that would land on the knight’s horses and would suck the horses’ blood. Vampire Bats were not native to Spain, so these animals were foreign to Cortes and his knights. Eventually, the stories of Vampire Bats reached Europe, and these bats began to be mentioned in books, such as in the tales of vampires (5.).

We have Vampire Bats at Connecticut’s Beardsley Zoo! Vampire Bats live in Central and South America. Their wingspan is typically 7 to 16 inches long, which is generally smaller than the wingspan of other bats (8., 12., 13.). Vampire Bats primarily feed on livestock blood and feed every 24 to 48 hours. Vampire Bats have heat-detecting pits in their snouts, allowing them to easily find blood vessels in their prey close to the skin’s surface (8.). These bats have an anticoagulant protein in their blood called Draculin (6.). Anticoagulants prevent the formulation and propagation of blood clots, allowing the Vampire Bat to feed off the blood of their prey more efficiently and for a longer time. Draculin is named after Dracula because of the shared trait of feeding on blood by both vampires and Vampire Bats (6.). According to fans of vampire lore, vampires would also possess Draculin (7.). Draculin might benefit the medical field because this anticoagulant protein could treat/prevent strokes and heart attacks (6.). Vampire Bats are known to have a higher metabolic rate than other bats because of the need to digest the nutrients of blood. Therefore, in folklore, vampires typically have a higher body temperature than humans due to feeding on blood, like the temperature difference between Vampire Bats and other bats (6.). When discussing vampire biology, some vampire enthusiasts contribute to vampire fantasies by adding the myth that there are insect parasites of Vampire Bats that create a mononegavirus called the Human Vampiric Virus, like rabies (7.). The Human Vampiric Virus would cause a person to become a vampire (7.).

Bats are very social animals - they demonstrate reciprocal altruism, which means they do nice things for each other without expecting anything in return (6.). For example, Vampire Bats may do reciprocal grooming which helps with hygiene and building social bonds that can last their whole lifetimes (6.)! Furthermore, these animals live in communal roosts, often sharing food by regurgitating blood for hungry individuals (9.). Even though vampires are typically solitary creatures, in many legends, they are seen living in communities ruled by one leader or many leaders. As a result, Vampire Bats and vampires can be social which explains why in some stories of vampires, such as in the Little Vampire (2017) movie, vampires live in a group and travel together like bats.

Lastly, I would like to share my favorite Vampire Bat fun fact. Did you know that Vampire Bats run on their thumbs? When watching Vampire Bats run, it reminds me of the demodogs from Stranger Things. If you would like to see what it looks like when a Vampire Bat runs, check out the video below. Pretty cool, right?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qWOUZAa5vlQ, Vampire Running

Thank you for reading this blog. I hope you were fascinated by the relationship between Vampire Bats and the vampire myth!



1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_0ThKRmySoU, Vampires: Folklore, Fantasy, and Fact - Michael Molina.
2. https://youtu.be/2gNyfzkTnoM?si=SUP5wgP7n9DJsIo4, Where Did Vampires Turning into Bats Come From?
3. https://youtu.be/_LivEnV6JuE?si=EUv5zzaoBth8pmub, Bat Spirit Animal | Bat Totem & Power Animal | Bat Symbolism & Meanings.
4. https://youtu.be/bv5_fB_dS9s?si=gbsj0vHuCZWwCUbZ, When Did Vampires Become Associated with Bats?
5. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D6e_qh3YRPs, Why Bats Aren’t as Scary as You Think | Nat Geo Explorers.
6. Keelyn Kotecki, Biology Department – SCSU. [email protected].
7. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJLA8iNUV-0, Vampire Biology Explained | The Science of Vampirism
8. Jenkins, S. (2013). The Animal Book. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
9. https://theconversation.com/five-vampire-traits-that-exist-in-the-natural-world-104957#:~:text=From%20avoiding%20sunlight%20to%20using%20a%20cloak, Five Vampire Traits That Exist in the Natural World.
​10. https://medium.com/@KB_Snow/exploring-the-fascinating-world-of-vampires-powers-weaknesses-society-and-more-e77be9113620#:~:text=Vampires%20are%20often%20depicted%20as%20being%20solitary%20creatures%2C,a%20hierarchical%20structure%20based%20on%20age%20or%20power, Exploring the Fascinating World of Vampires: Powers, Weaknesses, Society, and More.
11. (2017). The Little Vampire [Film].
12. S J Sterbing, C F Moss, Comparative analysis of the distribution and morphology of tactile hairs on the wing membrane of four bat species, Journal of Mammalogy, Volume 99, Issue 1, 1 February 2018, Pages 124–130, https://doi.org/10.1093/jmammal/gyx146. 13. https://www.worldlandtrust.org/species/mammals/common-vampire-bat/, Common Vampire Bat.