Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1910-02-10
B[OODSUCK|NC BATS
These Pests Are Plentiful In the
Forests of Brazil.
THEY ARE TRUE VAMPIRES.

But Cattle and Horses Are Their Chief
Victims, Which They Prefer to HUI
man Beinss-Their Chisei-like Teeth
and Peculiar interior Anatomy.
Half a dozen of us had been telling
what we thought we knew about
bloodsucking bats. but our converse
tion had developed only an astonish-
ing amount of misinformation and ir-
reconcilable differences. So we called
in the doctor who had lived some
years in Brazil and asked him to comb
out our tangled ideas.
I'm not surprised at your confu-
SION" he began. for at one time or
another | have believed above every
thing your questions would suggest.
When was Il schoolboy the vampire
was bat as large as crow, had a
horn on his nose and was described as
sitting on his victims feet, flaming
him with his wings while he worked
his pumping apparatus. There is such
bat. but when it was proved that it
was fruit eater many of us doubted
the whole bat legend along with the
| old mythology There is IA bloodsucking
vampire. however-m millions of them.
THE Old Spanish cOnquistadors
found proof of its existence in sore
great hoes, Which looked as ii the skin
had been delicately shaved off. just
deep enough to ooZe blood. but they
never caught one and naturally laid
the blame to the biggest ones they
found. whirh are nearly all vegetari-
ans. The real thing is IL small reddish
| brown creature closely resembling bats
If the same color caught here not in
frequently.
The naturalist finds. however. some
surprising differences. They have no
teeth for any purpose save for thin
| Wing the skin not enough for the
blood TO flow freely. but just sufficient
| to enable them To draw ii by suction.
| The wound rarely bleeds after they
leave it. This preparation ii done with
a pair of chisel-like teeth. sharp as a
/ knife. Their interior anatomy differs
from other animals as well as their
teeth. All the other animals, so far AS
] know, have Il stomach and necessary
organs for converting food into blood.
The true vampire has only an elol-
gated Sacklike Intestine for the storage
Of the blood taken. which requires no
digestion Till it is taken up into the
circulatory system. With neither teeth
nor stomach. il has no alternative. 1t
must find nourishment ready made.
This popularity may or may not
account for one very strange thing
about its selection of victims. Cattle
and horses are the chief ones. Not
one human being in Il hundred entire
~ satisfies their taste. Not half the
people who live among them all their
lives are ever bitten. But il one of a
family. for Instance. just suits them
they'll follow that person to any part
of the house, and no matter how care
fully he may be covered or screened
they will find their particular tipple.
The stories of their bleeding people
almost to death are true only partly
have known of one boy who was sc
rersistently followed that. while the
loss of blood was small from a single
attack. after months of the drain he
was greatly reduced in vitality. He
was always bitten in the same place
the end of the great toe-and 1t be
came so lacerated that there was con
siderable subsequent hemorrhage. This
lad was the youngest of four broth
ers They all slept In the same room
and sometimes changed beds. but none
; of the others was ever bitten.
-nA
{ ways M spot on the spine just bacl
/, of the shoulders. where the hair sep
: arates in Il starlike spot. This in TIL,
: case of Il horse is just where the from
! end of the saddle comes, and the at
$ tack therefore makes a vast deal o
e trouble where every one rides horse
e back. 4 majority of the Brazilian
!. horses and nearly all the cows are bit
d ten by these plaques.
d Fortunately the pests are mostl!
confined to the forest country. The.
give comparatively little trouble in cit
les and villages. though the construc
8 ton of houses makes it impossible t
| keep them out. In cities tiles are ex
2 clusively used for roofs and in tn
country palm leaf matching. and al
/ kinds of bats come and go at pleasure
p One rarely goes to sleep without iron
e one to a dozen flying about the room
: They are nearly all harmless and ar
welcome because they catch insects
They all look so much alike that on
does not know which to attack.
h How the genuine vampires elude'
& scientific research so long Is a mys
d terry. The species was not positivel
=. identified until the visit Of Darwin 4
the Beagle. 1t was in the seventies,
think, and there is not at the presen
al day. so far as l can learn. singl
well authenticated case recorded i