Vampire bats ‘kiss with blood’ to form close bonds
The animals create long-lasting bonds by regurgitating blood and sharing it
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Vampire bats form close friendships with each other by sharing their blood in “a sort of French kiss”, a new study has found.
These bats, which are the only mammals known to feed on blood, share their meal by regurgitating it.
Scientists say the animals create long-lasting bonds through this life-saving act of cooperation.
They obtain their food by biting into larger animals including cattle and can starve if they have not eaten for three days.
Gerald Carter, the study’s lead author and a behavioural ecologist at Ohio State University, said: "We go from bats starting as strangers from different colonies to groupmates that act to save each other's life.”
"They have this 'boom and bust' foraging experience, so they either hit it big and get a large blood meal or they're starved for that night,” he added.
Prof Carter noted the study is the first to look at how strangers from the same species create and then maintain cooperative relationships.
The experiment took 30 bats from two different area of Panama and put them together in a laboratory in pairs and groups.
The researchers omitted to provide one of the animals with food and watched how it interacted with the others around it.
Over a duration of 15 months, many of the creatures groomed one another and then shared blood with those in need of food.
"We think of social grooming as a kind of a currency - a way to gain tolerance and bond with another individual,” Prof Carter said.
The research is published in the journal Current Biology.
The team is now looking into how bats choose their mates.
Additional reporting from PA
Subscribe to Independent Premium to bookmark this article
Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Premium subscription today.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments