Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1896-02-27
DREADED BY HUMAN BEINGS
Bloodthirstiness of the Vampire Bat
of Fact and Fable.

Belief in the vampire bats for a
long time was ridiculed by science as
a delusion, but it has been proved to
be founded correctly on fact. 1t was
the famous naturalist Darwin who
settled this question. One night he
was camping with a party near Co
quimbo in Chilli, and it happened that
a servant noticed the restlessness of
one Of the horses. The man went up
to the horse and actually caught bat
in the act of sucking blood from the
flank of the animal.
1t is only recently that exact knowl-
edge has been obtained on this inter-
esting subject. Whereas many kinds
of bats have been ignorantly accused
of the blood-sucking habit, only one
species is really a vampire. 1t consti-
tutes a genus all by itself Just as
man is the only species of the genus
homo, so the vampire bat is the only
species of the genus desmodus. For
tunately it is not very large, having
a spread of only two feet. This is not
much for a bat. The so-called flying
foxes of the old world, which so
about in f1ocks and ravage orchards,
are of much greater size, and there is
a bat of Java, known as the 'kalong,
that has a spread of five feet from
wing-tip to wing-tip. The body of the
true vampire bat weighs only few
ounces. :
The stories formerly told of this bat
were appalling, indeed. According to
report it was accustomed to come ST.
lently by night and search for the ex-
posed toes of a sound sleeper. Its in
stinct told it when an intended vic
tim was in deep slumber. Posing
itself above the feet of it's prey and
tanning them with it's extended wings
it produced a cool atmosphere, which
in hot climate aided in soothing the
sleeper to yet more profound repose.
Then it applied it's needlelike teeth to
the foot and inserted them into the tip
of a toe with such adroitness that no
pain was caused by the tiny wound.
It's lips were then brought into action
and the blood was sucked until the
bat was full. Then it disgorged the
blood just taken and began afresh,
continuing to feed and disgorge al
ternately until the person attacked
persisted from sheer loss of the vital
fluid.
No wonder that naturalists were dis
posed to reject a story of this kind.
1t was a gross exaggeration of the fact,
but there was truth behind it. The
bat does suck the blood of animals,
and of human beings when it can get
at them, but the bites are not fatal
and usually cause little inconvenience.
The creature almost invariably Sc
lects the foot as the point of attack in
appears to have very capricious
taste. One person may sleep in the
open air with impunity where vampire
bats are numerous, while another will
be wounded almost nightly. natur-
alist named Waterton, being enthus-
iastic for personal investigation, slept
in an open loft for seven months, oc-
cupying a hammock. The vampires
entered the loft every night by dozens,
but not one of them ever attacked
him. Yet an Indian sleeping a few
yards away suffered frequently from
their bites A young English lad In
the same house was bitten one night
with such severity that the wound
bled until morning. Fowls on the
premises were attacked and killed by
the bats, and an unfortunate jackass
died by inches from loss of blood.
The vampire bat ranges through
tropical America as far north as
southern Mexico. 1t is plentifully dis
tributed over Chilli, Peru, Bolivia and
Ecuador. Nearly everywhere in that
part of the world the blood-sucklng
bats are very numerous, and it is not
surprising that natives and whites
should dread them greatly. With
singular audacity they creep into
houses and seek the exposed feet of
any sleeping occupant who has neg
lected to draw the COvertet over his
legs. When they attack quadrupeds,
the creatures generally fix themselves
upon the shoulders or TANKS. Cattle
which have passed the. night in pas
lures are apt to be found in the morn
ing with TANKS and shoulders covered
with bites.
The vampire bat is mouse-colored.
In many respects it is notably unlike
other kinds of bats. In each jaw it
has two teeth of a very remarkable
shape, being especially adapted for
making incisions in the flesh. It's IN
testines are very short, because blood
is easily digested. Most bats are very
awkward on the ground and never, I'M
less compelled, place themselves on
level surface. Vampires, on the other
hand, are able to run as swiftly as
rats, while they fly through the air IS
easily as any bird.-Boston Transcript.