Vampire bats.[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Blood-sucking vampires don't exist outside of our imagination ... but blood-sucking vampire bats vampire bat, name for the blood-drinking bats of the family Desmodontidae, found in the New World tropics. Vampire bats feed exclusively on the blood of living animals and are thus the only true parasites among mammals. sure do! Recent research into the spread of rabies rabies (rā`bēz, ră`–) or hydrophobia (hī'drəfō`bēə), acute viral infection of the central nervous system in dogs, foxes, raccoons, skunks, bats, and other animals, and in in Peru suggests that vampire bats are biting people at an increasing rate, leading to more rabies cases among humans. Like mythical myth·i·cal also myth·ic adj. 1. Of or existing in myth: the mythical unicorn. 2. Imaginary; fictitious. 3. vampires, vampire bats must drink fresh blood ever 2-3 days or they will die of starvation (their victims are not harmed and usually don't feel a thing). Typically, the bats feast on livestock such as cows to survive, but with cattle populations decreasing due to logging, they are starting to bite humans, too. The real risk is not the bat bite, but the deadly form of "paralytic paralytic /par·a·lyt·ic/ (par?ah-lit´ik) 1. affected with or pertaining to paralysis. 2. a person affected with paralysis. par·a·lyt·ic adj. 1. " rabies that is spread by tropical bats. While it is still rare from humans to get infected in·fect tr.v. in·fect·ed, in·fect·ing, in·fects 1. To contaminate with a pathogenic microorganism or agent. 2. To communicate a pathogen or disease to. 3. To invade and produce infection in. with rabies, especially from a bat bite, experts are studying rabid vampire bats in an attempt to develop a plan for disease control among both bats and humans in Peru. Before you get nervous yourself, remember--there are no vampire bats in Canada, and they have no plans to travel north anytime soon! |
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