VAMPIRE BATS

• Preference - is for the blood of cattle or chickens. They do not even like human blood but it will be taken as a last resort if they face starvation and demise.
• Organization - the species is extremely organized. Only the 'scout' makes a single bite in the host animal and the other roost mates of the 'scout' line up and wait their turn to take their blood meal. They have an anticoagulant in their saliva that allows the blood to drip at an extremely slow rate for approximately 8 hours. The bats that are too old, too young or too disabled to fly out for the evening to feed are fed by the members of the colony who did feed. The bats regurgitate their meal for the bats that were unable to feed and then fly back to the host animal to get their own meal.
• Orphans/Roost mates - if a mother does not return after she went to feed (because she has been disabled or killed), the members of the colony will raise her orphan.