1 00:00:03,040 --> 00:00:05,960 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind from how Stuff 2 00:00:05,960 --> 00:00:13,200 Speaker 1: Works dot com. Hey you welcome to Stuff to Blow 3 00:00:13,200 --> 00:00:15,680 Speaker 1: your Mind. My name is Robert Lamb and I'm Julie Douglas, 4 00:00:15,720 --> 00:00:18,560 Speaker 1: and this week we're talking about vampires. Specifically, we're talking 5 00:00:18,560 --> 00:00:21,239 Speaker 1: about vampire bats. But I feel like I have to 6 00:00:21,239 --> 00:00:24,840 Speaker 1: to urge everyone, like, don't don't run away, because because 7 00:00:24,840 --> 00:00:27,880 Speaker 1: on one hand, vampires, of course, as just is a 8 00:00:27,880 --> 00:00:29,720 Speaker 1: is a whole. It's like bringing in all of the 9 00:00:29,800 --> 00:00:33,120 Speaker 1: various fantasy elements. They're like, that's completely overblown, to the 10 00:00:33,159 --> 00:00:36,400 Speaker 1: point that most people I think are getting, if not 11 00:00:36,520 --> 00:00:39,839 Speaker 1: completely already forward with vampires, you know, we kind of 12 00:00:39,840 --> 00:00:42,200 Speaker 1: know what to expand with it. And then with vampire bats, 13 00:00:42,840 --> 00:00:45,199 Speaker 1: I don't want to, you know, discredit them either, but 14 00:00:45,400 --> 00:00:48,360 Speaker 1: on a at a surface level, it's easy to say, oh, well, 15 00:00:48,400 --> 00:00:51,000 Speaker 1: their bats and they drink blood from cows, no big deal. 16 00:00:51,080 --> 00:00:53,959 Speaker 1: I've seen them on I've seen Attenborough talk about them 17 00:00:53,960 --> 00:00:56,640 Speaker 1: on documentaries, and yes, they're they're neat, but I don't 18 00:00:56,720 --> 00:00:59,120 Speaker 1: necessarily need to hear about them for an hour. But 19 00:00:59,360 --> 00:01:03,320 Speaker 1: the thing is, we really start asking questions about the 20 00:01:03,360 --> 00:01:07,640 Speaker 1: blood diet and about the vampiric lifestyle style and how 21 00:01:07,680 --> 00:01:13,520 Speaker 1: that evolved really get into some crazy imaginative areas that 22 00:01:13,520 --> 00:01:16,200 Speaker 1: that that that really blew my mind. Yeah, these guys 23 00:01:16,400 --> 00:01:19,520 Speaker 1: are so interesting for for many many reasons. And we've 24 00:01:19,520 --> 00:01:21,319 Speaker 1: talked about bats. I think we had a couple of 25 00:01:21,319 --> 00:01:25,560 Speaker 1: bad episodes last year. Maybe we've talked about how um, 26 00:01:25,800 --> 00:01:28,080 Speaker 1: we'll just we'll discuss a little bit about this, but 27 00:01:28,120 --> 00:01:31,600 Speaker 1: we've talked about how they have rich social bonds and 28 00:01:32,640 --> 00:01:35,720 Speaker 1: they are amazing creatures, and they have these these four limbs. 29 00:01:35,720 --> 00:01:38,240 Speaker 1: If you look at their bodies, it's very easy to 30 00:01:38,319 --> 00:01:43,840 Speaker 1: see the human hand and the human armbones replicated in 31 00:01:43,920 --> 00:01:47,760 Speaker 1: that wingspan. That alone gives us this idea that there's 32 00:01:47,840 --> 00:01:51,400 Speaker 1: so much to this mammal that's only flying mammal um 33 00:01:51,480 --> 00:01:54,360 Speaker 1: that relates to us. And then there's the weirdness of 34 00:01:54,400 --> 00:01:57,720 Speaker 1: the blood diet too. So let's let's launch into these 35 00:01:57,840 --> 00:02:01,720 Speaker 1: guys because they're so amazing. Yeah, vampire bats. Now, bats 36 00:02:02,480 --> 00:02:04,960 Speaker 1: exist in various places throughout the world. We have both 37 00:02:04,960 --> 00:02:06,840 Speaker 1: both the Old World and the New World bats, the 38 00:02:07,120 --> 00:02:10,440 Speaker 1: New World of course being the America's. But out of 39 00:02:10,440 --> 00:02:14,520 Speaker 1: all these species and uh, and we're talking over a thousand, 40 00:02:14,560 --> 00:02:17,680 Speaker 1: like five more or less different species of bats in 41 00:02:17,680 --> 00:02:20,920 Speaker 1: the world, they make up a quarter of all mammal species, 42 00:02:21,120 --> 00:02:26,320 Speaker 1: and yet vampire bats limited to three species currently, all 43 00:02:26,400 --> 00:02:29,800 Speaker 1: three live in the New World in the America's ranging 44 00:02:29,840 --> 00:02:34,000 Speaker 1: from Mexico to Brazil, Chile and argat Argentina. And there's 45 00:02:34,000 --> 00:02:36,160 Speaker 1: a reason for that. Yes, we'll get into that in 46 00:02:36,200 --> 00:02:39,000 Speaker 1: a little bit. But when we're talking about these three species, 47 00:02:39,040 --> 00:02:43,280 Speaker 1: we were talking about does modest rotundus, diphilia eco data 48 00:02:43,680 --> 00:02:48,400 Speaker 1: and Diningma's jungi and respectively, were talking about the common vampire, 49 00:02:48,639 --> 00:02:52,519 Speaker 1: the hairy legged vampire, and the white winged vampire. Yes, 50 00:02:52,560 --> 00:02:55,519 Speaker 1: and these are all three again their vampires their single bars. 51 00:02:55,840 --> 00:02:59,040 Speaker 1: They live which in their obligates obligates samla single bars, 52 00:02:59,080 --> 00:03:03,760 Speaker 1: meaning they live exclusively on blood. There are obligated to 53 00:03:03,880 --> 00:03:06,760 Speaker 1: drink it. It's not just a situation of like, yeah, 54 00:03:06,760 --> 00:03:08,560 Speaker 1: I eat blood, eat bugs and then I get a 55 00:03:08,560 --> 00:03:11,600 Speaker 1: little blood here and there. No, they exist solely on blood. 56 00:03:12,040 --> 00:03:14,560 Speaker 1: And as will discuss, like that's that's a hard road, 57 00:03:14,800 --> 00:03:17,960 Speaker 1: like blood is not a great nutrient. Like if you 58 00:03:17,960 --> 00:03:20,520 Speaker 1: had to choose one thing in the world to live upon, 59 00:03:21,480 --> 00:03:23,520 Speaker 1: that's not a good choice. Like that's why you have 60 00:03:23,760 --> 00:03:26,080 Speaker 1: that's really one of the reasons you have only three 61 00:03:26,080 --> 00:03:29,000 Speaker 1: species out of these thousands of species of bats that 62 00:03:29,120 --> 00:03:32,799 Speaker 1: do this. The rest are living on fruits or insects. 63 00:03:32,880 --> 00:03:35,800 Speaker 1: And then here these these guys and gals, and they're 64 00:03:35,840 --> 00:03:38,800 Speaker 1: depending upon blood. Yeah, in a pretty limited region if 65 00:03:38,840 --> 00:03:41,120 Speaker 1: you look at it from a world perspective. Um, but 66 00:03:41,200 --> 00:03:44,080 Speaker 1: let's look at the way these guys appear to us, 67 00:03:44,160 --> 00:03:48,320 Speaker 1: because they're they're quite striking. Um. They have these pig 68 00:03:48,400 --> 00:03:51,760 Speaker 1: like noses that if you ever look at angry birds 69 00:03:51,920 --> 00:03:56,119 Speaker 1: and you see the pigs, they've got big gizmo ears, right, 70 00:03:56,800 --> 00:03:59,240 Speaker 1: and um, they have a kind of a it's been 71 00:03:59,240 --> 00:04:01,840 Speaker 1: described as a cleft on its chin which helps to 72 00:04:01,920 --> 00:04:05,280 Speaker 1: channel the blood. And then of course these just razor 73 00:04:05,400 --> 00:04:09,200 Speaker 1: sharp teeth. Yeah. And the and the nose you mentioned 74 00:04:09,280 --> 00:04:11,240 Speaker 1: is all. They also have this this kind of nose 75 00:04:11,360 --> 00:04:14,160 Speaker 1: leafing it's called, which almost kind of makes their nose 76 00:04:14,160 --> 00:04:16,680 Speaker 1: looks like some sort of a fungus. Uh. And and 77 00:04:17,120 --> 00:04:19,000 Speaker 1: you find these all in other bats as well, not 78 00:04:19,040 --> 00:04:22,520 Speaker 1: just the vampire bats. But they give the the vampire 79 00:04:22,520 --> 00:04:25,919 Speaker 1: about a very distinct appearance. And in fact, early naturalist thought, 80 00:04:26,200 --> 00:04:29,000 Speaker 1: you know, I guess, based mostly on illustrations at this 81 00:04:29,080 --> 00:04:32,200 Speaker 1: point that those leaves might be sharp, so their noses 82 00:04:32,400 --> 00:04:35,080 Speaker 1: are kind of these these razor blades that they might 83 00:04:35,080 --> 00:04:37,599 Speaker 1: be using to slice open their prey in order to 84 00:04:37,640 --> 00:04:40,679 Speaker 1: drink the blood, which isn't so then the nose leaves 85 00:04:40,680 --> 00:04:43,440 Speaker 1: have have to do with echolocation and also thermal location, 86 00:04:44,040 --> 00:04:46,760 Speaker 1: not only seeing things with sight, but also detecting changes 87 00:04:46,800 --> 00:04:49,479 Speaker 1: in temperature so they can see where that blood is 88 00:04:49,600 --> 00:04:51,360 Speaker 1: to see where see where where to strike, and where 89 00:04:51,360 --> 00:04:53,359 Speaker 1: to drink exactly. They actually it's sort of like an 90 00:04:53,360 --> 00:04:57,320 Speaker 1: infrared system that can actually sense that heat. But um. 91 00:04:57,440 --> 00:05:00,040 Speaker 1: But what I love about the way they look and 92 00:05:00,160 --> 00:05:02,680 Speaker 1: these depictions of them is they almost look like these 93 00:05:02,720 --> 00:05:07,440 Speaker 1: fictional like medieval etchings or something or something that would 94 00:05:07,440 --> 00:05:10,000 Speaker 1: come out of the mind of man, because they look 95 00:05:10,040 --> 00:05:13,000 Speaker 1: so bizarre they do. They have this goblin the UH 96 00:05:13,320 --> 00:05:17,360 Speaker 1: look to them, and it's right because you you look 97 00:05:17,400 --> 00:05:21,480 Speaker 1: at the illustrations of fantastic goblins and whatnot and monsters 98 00:05:21,480 --> 00:05:23,280 Speaker 1: and demons, and then you look at the bat, and 99 00:05:23,360 --> 00:05:25,240 Speaker 1: then you have to know what comes first. You know, 100 00:05:25,680 --> 00:05:29,200 Speaker 1: to what extent has the bat influenced our iconography of 101 00:05:29,240 --> 00:05:32,560 Speaker 1: the monstrous? To what extent has the monstrous UH interpreted 102 00:05:32,600 --> 00:05:36,120 Speaker 1: our interpretation of the bat, because for instance, the vampire thing, 103 00:05:36,560 --> 00:05:40,400 Speaker 1: it really our understanding of the vampire bat is fairly recent. Uh. 104 00:05:40,480 --> 00:05:42,680 Speaker 1: And again they're in there in the New World, they're 105 00:05:42,680 --> 00:05:45,960 Speaker 1: in the Americas. But the idea of the vampire, of 106 00:05:46,080 --> 00:05:49,080 Speaker 1: some sort of creature that sustains itself on blood, on 107 00:05:49,200 --> 00:05:51,760 Speaker 1: human blood, especially, like, that's a very old idea that 108 00:05:51,839 --> 00:05:54,039 Speaker 1: you find, uh, you know, back in even in the 109 00:05:54,040 --> 00:05:57,640 Speaker 1: Hellenistic ages, and perhaps you know even earlier indeed. But 110 00:05:57,760 --> 00:06:01,000 Speaker 1: let's let's get into some of their feeding habits, because 111 00:06:01,200 --> 00:06:03,760 Speaker 1: this is really interesting stuff. In a study published in 112 00:06:03,760 --> 00:06:07,560 Speaker 1: the journal BMC Biology, it was found that vampire bats 113 00:06:07,560 --> 00:06:10,159 Speaker 1: of this species does modus rotundus by the way, if 114 00:06:10,279 --> 00:06:13,200 Speaker 1: they were named rotundus at the time, because their stomachs 115 00:06:13,320 --> 00:06:15,920 Speaker 1: looked appear to the people it is very very large 116 00:06:15,960 --> 00:06:18,760 Speaker 1: to the researchers, um. But little did they know that 117 00:06:18,800 --> 00:06:21,680 Speaker 1: the stomach was actually filled with blood at that moment, 118 00:06:21,760 --> 00:06:25,080 Speaker 1: so that's why the stomach looked so rotund. But they 119 00:06:25,120 --> 00:06:29,479 Speaker 1: found that these bats could recognize recorded human breathing sounds 120 00:06:29,560 --> 00:06:34,080 Speaker 1: much better than human participants could. And vampire bats feed 121 00:06:34,120 --> 00:06:36,719 Speaker 1: on the same prey, by the way, over several nights 122 00:06:36,760 --> 00:06:38,960 Speaker 1: and the authors of the study proposed that the bats 123 00:06:39,040 --> 00:06:41,960 Speaker 1: us breathing sounds to identify prey in the same way 124 00:06:42,520 --> 00:06:46,760 Speaker 1: um humans use voice to recognize each other. So it's 125 00:06:46,839 --> 00:06:48,920 Speaker 1: kind of it's interesting not only that they have the 126 00:06:49,240 --> 00:06:55,160 Speaker 1: certain live stock in mind, but they can differentiate between 127 00:06:55,279 --> 00:06:58,680 Speaker 1: that live stock based on their breathing patterns. And we've 128 00:06:58,680 --> 00:07:01,919 Speaker 1: talked about this ability with bats before, this sort of 129 00:07:02,040 --> 00:07:05,240 Speaker 1: zen like ability just to to take everything else in 130 00:07:05,279 --> 00:07:08,560 Speaker 1: the background and have it sort of receeed and really 131 00:07:08,560 --> 00:07:12,760 Speaker 1: hone in on the prey. Yeah, they're amazing creatures and 132 00:07:12,760 --> 00:07:15,920 Speaker 1: and it's easy to focus on on all of this, uh, 133 00:07:16,160 --> 00:07:19,520 Speaker 1: the alien aspects of the bat, because as we discussed 134 00:07:19,520 --> 00:07:21,600 Speaker 1: in the previous podcast, it's it's it's almost impossible to 135 00:07:21,600 --> 00:07:24,440 Speaker 1: put ourselves in that perspective and to imagine seeing the 136 00:07:24,480 --> 00:07:27,400 Speaker 1: world as the bat sees the world. But they're also 137 00:07:27,560 --> 00:07:30,200 Speaker 1: really social creatures. They typically gather in collegues about a 138 00:07:30,280 --> 00:07:32,920 Speaker 1: hundred animals, but sometimes they meant living may live in 139 00:07:32,960 --> 00:07:36,240 Speaker 1: a group of a thousand or more. And uh, incidentally, 140 00:07:36,240 --> 00:07:39,520 Speaker 1: over that time, a hundred bat colony can drink the 141 00:07:39,520 --> 00:07:43,560 Speaker 1: blood of twenty five cows. But but again, they're they're 142 00:07:43,680 --> 00:07:48,960 Speaker 1: very social. You see actual um reciprocal altruism in vampire bats. 143 00:07:49,040 --> 00:07:52,280 Speaker 1: You see, because this will discuss, it's essential with with 144 00:07:52,360 --> 00:07:55,680 Speaker 1: a blood diet to to get that blood every night 145 00:07:55,720 --> 00:07:57,760 Speaker 1: if possible. And if you go forty eight hours without 146 00:07:57,800 --> 00:08:01,160 Speaker 1: blood as a vampire bat, you're starving yet your toast. Yeah, 147 00:08:01,200 --> 00:08:04,360 Speaker 1: and so we we we see examples of the vampi 148 00:08:04,440 --> 00:08:08,760 Speaker 1: of vampire bats bringing blood back and feeding the famished bats, 149 00:08:08,840 --> 00:08:11,480 Speaker 1: the bats that haven't had enough to eat, and and 150 00:08:11,600 --> 00:08:14,600 Speaker 1: looking after each other in this in this fashion. And 151 00:08:14,640 --> 00:08:16,800 Speaker 1: that one of the theories here with this is that 152 00:08:16,920 --> 00:08:19,760 Speaker 1: bats picked up this behavior, this kind of altruism, is 153 00:08:19,760 --> 00:08:23,240 Speaker 1: looking after one another because in their habitats, as you 154 00:08:23,280 --> 00:08:26,000 Speaker 1: see the horse die aways, you see the camel and 155 00:08:26,040 --> 00:08:29,680 Speaker 1: the giant slop disappear from the continent, leaving them only uh, 156 00:08:29,720 --> 00:08:32,240 Speaker 1: you know, much more limited food supplies. They had to 157 00:08:32,280 --> 00:08:34,679 Speaker 1: do this in order to survive. Yeah, there's a kind 158 00:08:34,679 --> 00:08:37,280 Speaker 1: of cooperation, just like among humans. Right. If you kind 159 00:08:37,280 --> 00:08:39,000 Speaker 1: of help me out this time, I'll help you out 160 00:08:39,120 --> 00:08:41,760 Speaker 1: next time. You know, you can't find a source of blood, 161 00:08:42,080 --> 00:08:45,280 Speaker 1: right there, there's what I said yesterday, right exactly. Yeah, 162 00:08:45,280 --> 00:08:48,600 Speaker 1: And there's they're they're even you know, there's some degree 163 00:08:48,760 --> 00:08:52,160 Speaker 1: of of argument uh in this on this particular topic 164 00:08:52,200 --> 00:08:56,320 Speaker 1: among bat researchers. But they may be able to weed 165 00:08:56,320 --> 00:08:58,920 Speaker 1: out cheats. So if you're taking blood but not giving, 166 00:08:59,440 --> 00:09:02,520 Speaker 1: then they're going to cut you off. Ah, that's interesting. 167 00:09:02,720 --> 00:09:06,400 Speaker 1: And they have seen that in captivity all of the 168 00:09:06,400 --> 00:09:09,800 Speaker 1: bats will share a meal if if someone needs it, 169 00:09:10,000 --> 00:09:13,679 Speaker 1: but in their natural habitat the adult males will not 170 00:09:13,800 --> 00:09:16,480 Speaker 1: engage in this behavior the female as well. Of course, 171 00:09:18,559 --> 00:09:21,160 Speaker 1: they also like to sniff each other as a greeting 172 00:09:22,200 --> 00:09:26,040 Speaker 1: and they perform social grooming of one another, which is key. 173 00:09:26,360 --> 00:09:28,600 Speaker 1: We'll be getting back to that in a minute. Yeah, 174 00:09:28,679 --> 00:09:31,839 Speaker 1: And for their body size, vampire bats have one of 175 00:09:31,880 --> 00:09:35,319 Speaker 1: the largest brains among bats. The neo cortex is about 176 00:09:35,360 --> 00:09:39,720 Speaker 1: twice the average size of other bats. And as we 177 00:09:39,760 --> 00:09:43,959 Speaker 1: know about the neo cortex and humans, it's really important 178 00:09:44,480 --> 00:09:48,319 Speaker 1: in terms of social intelligence and social complexity. So it 179 00:09:48,320 --> 00:09:51,200 Speaker 1: would make sense that um it is so very large. 180 00:09:51,200 --> 00:09:53,840 Speaker 1: And if they have these very rich bonds with one another. 181 00:09:54,400 --> 00:09:57,880 Speaker 1: And we have talked about this before and the other 182 00:09:57,960 --> 00:10:01,400 Speaker 1: podcast about bad but a lot of the test to 183 00:10:01,400 --> 00:10:05,600 Speaker 1: do with their communication, which is super nuanced. We know 184 00:10:05,679 --> 00:10:08,920 Speaker 1: of course they can recognize each other's voices. We also 185 00:10:09,000 --> 00:10:13,200 Speaker 1: know that bats share a common gene for communication called 186 00:10:13,320 --> 00:10:18,160 Speaker 1: fox P two with us. And we also known, according 187 00:10:18,200 --> 00:10:21,400 Speaker 1: to researcher Mere Jean Quinn Child and her colleagues at 188 00:10:21,400 --> 00:10:25,920 Speaker 1: the University of Erlingen Nuremberg in Germany, that the younger 189 00:10:26,160 --> 00:10:30,880 Speaker 1: great greater sack bats that the baby ones were observed 190 00:10:30,880 --> 00:10:34,720 Speaker 1: stringing together screeches, barks, and hisses with no soccial context, 191 00:10:34,800 --> 00:10:40,360 Speaker 1: essentially practicing language much like a toddler does when it babbles. Yeah, 192 00:10:40,440 --> 00:10:42,880 Speaker 1: so again, you see a lot of parallels with humans. 193 00:10:43,320 --> 00:10:45,880 Speaker 1: All right, So let's talk about evolution. Now, mostly we're 194 00:10:45,880 --> 00:10:50,800 Speaker 1: interested in the evolution of of vampiresm of depending upon 195 00:10:50,840 --> 00:10:53,480 Speaker 1: that blood diet. But but let's let's step it out 196 00:10:53,480 --> 00:10:56,200 Speaker 1: a little, uh, a little more and think about the 197 00:10:56,200 --> 00:10:59,600 Speaker 1: evolution of the bat itself. Bats and birds. Obviously they 198 00:10:59,600 --> 00:11:03,640 Speaker 1: have a great deal in common. Both both are flying organisms, 199 00:11:04,000 --> 00:11:07,520 Speaker 1: yet they're very different. In birds, we have the aviens 200 00:11:07,640 --> 00:11:10,400 Speaker 1: emerging about a hundred and fifty million years ago during 201 00:11:10,400 --> 00:11:13,280 Speaker 1: the Jurassic period, uh, and they go on from there 202 00:11:13,320 --> 00:11:18,440 Speaker 1: to fly, swim, trott and borrow all over the world. Meanwhile, uh, 203 00:11:18,600 --> 00:11:22,760 Speaker 1: the mammalion bat dates back between seventy hundred million years ago. 204 00:11:22,800 --> 00:11:25,560 Speaker 1: But it's hard to say because even though they're one 205 00:11:25,600 --> 00:11:28,240 Speaker 1: of the most diverse groups of mammals today, they're one 206 00:11:28,280 --> 00:11:31,440 Speaker 1: of the least common groups in the fossil records. Uh. 207 00:11:31,600 --> 00:11:34,120 Speaker 1: Part of this is that they have small light skeletons, 208 00:11:34,120 --> 00:11:36,240 Speaker 1: they don't preserve all that well. And also, if you're 209 00:11:36,360 --> 00:11:39,080 Speaker 1: residing in a tropical environment, as a lot of these 210 00:11:39,160 --> 00:11:43,280 Speaker 1: these bats due today and and did historically, these are 211 00:11:43,320 --> 00:11:48,720 Speaker 1: not environments where where dead things last long decomposition is yeah, 212 00:11:48,760 --> 00:11:51,600 Speaker 1: things that it's breaking down, it's hot, it's moist, things 213 00:11:51,600 --> 00:11:54,880 Speaker 1: are eating. Uh, so it's chance the chances of fossilization 214 00:11:55,120 --> 00:11:58,520 Speaker 1: are reduced. Again. They're over a thousand different species of 215 00:11:58,520 --> 00:12:00,160 Speaker 1: bats in the world. They make up a quarter of 216 00:12:00,200 --> 00:12:03,240 Speaker 1: all mammal species. Uh. And among these we have the 217 00:12:03,280 --> 00:12:06,400 Speaker 1: mega bats as opposed to the microbats. These are large 218 00:12:06,400 --> 00:12:09,959 Speaker 1: bats found in the Old World tropical rainforests Australia, Asia, 219 00:12:10,000 --> 00:12:12,600 Speaker 1: and Africa. The biggest bat in the world is the 220 00:12:13,040 --> 00:12:15,840 Speaker 1: is the Malayan flying fox found in Asia. Waighs about 221 00:12:15,840 --> 00:12:17,959 Speaker 1: two pounds and has a wingspan a fan of about 222 00:12:17,960 --> 00:12:20,760 Speaker 1: six feet, and that's one of the fruit eaters. The 223 00:12:20,960 --> 00:12:24,000 Speaker 1: smallest bat in the world is Kitty's hog nose bat, 224 00:12:24,720 --> 00:12:26,839 Speaker 1: also called the bumblebee bat, and that's stuff found in 225 00:12:26,880 --> 00:12:29,680 Speaker 1: Thai land in ways about two grams uh. It's about 226 00:12:29,679 --> 00:12:31,840 Speaker 1: as much as a dime, by the way, and it 227 00:12:31,880 --> 00:12:35,160 Speaker 1: has a six inch wingspan. So both the bat and 228 00:12:35,200 --> 00:12:38,000 Speaker 1: the bird learned to fly in their own way. And 229 00:12:38,240 --> 00:12:41,959 Speaker 1: there are other fascinating examples of their covergent evolution. Several 230 00:12:41,960 --> 00:12:44,599 Speaker 1: dozen bat species and more than three hundred species of 231 00:12:44,679 --> 00:12:49,640 Speaker 1: hummingbird evolved to resemble each other, both anatomically and behaviorally, uh, 232 00:12:49,679 --> 00:12:52,440 Speaker 1: solely because they existed in similar environments and exploited a 233 00:12:52,520 --> 00:12:56,360 Speaker 1: similar resource name lamely nectar. All right, this is the 234 00:12:56,640 --> 00:13:00,640 Speaker 1: sugary liquid bribe of pollen producing plants. But those are 235 00:13:00,640 --> 00:13:03,200 Speaker 1: the nectivores. And we're here to talk about bats with 236 00:13:03,240 --> 00:13:08,040 Speaker 1: another highly specialized lifestyle for a liquid diet. And we're 237 00:13:08,160 --> 00:13:11,640 Speaker 1: talking here, of course about the songlevores, the blood drinkers. 238 00:13:11,640 --> 00:13:15,439 Speaker 1: How did the blood drinkers evolve? Well, the first vampire 239 00:13:15,520 --> 00:13:18,480 Speaker 1: bats emerged less than twenty six million years ago, according 240 00:13:18,480 --> 00:13:22,040 Speaker 1: to genetic evidence, and they are closely related to insect 241 00:13:22,080 --> 00:13:25,880 Speaker 1: eating bats that may have gorged on the parasites of 242 00:13:26,120 --> 00:13:30,640 Speaker 1: prehistoric beasts. So if you've just feasted on a fat, 243 00:13:30,760 --> 00:13:35,760 Speaker 1: juicy tick, let's say, then it's not too far of 244 00:13:35,840 --> 00:13:39,280 Speaker 1: a walk in logic to see how some bats may 245 00:13:39,320 --> 00:13:42,640 Speaker 1: have begun to have the taste for blood or to 246 00:13:42,720 --> 00:13:46,040 Speaker 1: seek it out as as a mean source. Right, And 247 00:13:46,040 --> 00:13:49,200 Speaker 1: we we see this to a certain degree in birds. Uh, 248 00:13:49,240 --> 00:13:52,040 Speaker 1: there are birds that occasionally or even frequently feed on blood. 249 00:13:52,120 --> 00:13:55,760 Speaker 1: Vampire finches of the Glagos Islands occasionally feed by drinking 250 00:13:55,760 --> 00:13:58,280 Speaker 1: the blood of other birds. Meanwhile, there are plenty of 251 00:13:58,320 --> 00:14:01,640 Speaker 1: birds that feed on picks and other parasites and large animals, 252 00:14:01,679 --> 00:14:04,080 Speaker 1: you know, ox peckers and the like. They're eating the ticks, 253 00:14:04,160 --> 00:14:07,360 Speaker 1: they're eating the fleas, whatever. And then if there's a 254 00:14:07,360 --> 00:14:09,839 Speaker 1: little blood there from the host organism, they'll they'll go 255 00:14:09,840 --> 00:14:11,480 Speaker 1: ahead and cross that line and have some of it 256 00:14:11,520 --> 00:14:15,079 Speaker 1: as well. But there's little or no convergence between birds 257 00:14:15,080 --> 00:14:17,200 Speaker 1: and bats when it comes to blood. When we're talking 258 00:14:17,240 --> 00:14:21,400 Speaker 1: about obligate blood drinking, you don't see uh, any obligate 259 00:14:21,400 --> 00:14:26,440 Speaker 1: blood drinking birds. Well, I think imagine the pigeons out there, 260 00:14:27,920 --> 00:14:31,320 Speaker 1: so so central are these blood meals to the vampire 261 00:14:31,400 --> 00:14:35,160 Speaker 1: bats that they actually have been missing around or modifying 262 00:14:35,720 --> 00:14:39,760 Speaker 1: a plasma gen activator gene, which we haven't. Humans have it, 263 00:14:39,840 --> 00:14:43,000 Speaker 1: and it protects against heart attack by producing proteins that 264 00:14:43,040 --> 00:14:46,560 Speaker 1: bust up blood clots and they clear vessels. Um. But 265 00:14:46,720 --> 00:14:49,240 Speaker 1: they actually have this, uh, this gene that they can 266 00:14:49,280 --> 00:14:54,160 Speaker 1: activate in their saliva. And David Liberles, a geneticist at 267 00:14:54,160 --> 00:14:57,360 Speaker 1: the University of Wyoming and Laramie, studied three species of 268 00:14:57,440 --> 00:15:00,760 Speaker 1: vampire bouts and found this modification. And he found that 269 00:15:00,800 --> 00:15:04,320 Speaker 1: two species that prey on lifestock acquired additional mutations that 270 00:15:04,440 --> 00:15:09,400 Speaker 1: prevent these p A proteins from being silenced by natural inhibitor. 271 00:15:09,880 --> 00:15:12,280 Speaker 1: So he says that's a process that humans and other 272 00:15:12,320 --> 00:15:14,840 Speaker 1: mammals used to put a harness on blood clotting, but 273 00:15:15,000 --> 00:15:20,600 Speaker 1: feeding on mammals, he says, is a key adaptation for that. 274 00:15:20,920 --> 00:15:23,400 Speaker 1: So it's just further evidence that this is so important 275 00:15:23,400 --> 00:15:27,040 Speaker 1: to them that they've been tinkering over time their genes 276 00:15:27,200 --> 00:15:31,040 Speaker 1: say hey, we need to make this process more solid. Yeah, 277 00:15:31,080 --> 00:15:35,160 Speaker 1: like thet a genetic level, they are completely committed to 278 00:15:35,240 --> 00:15:37,160 Speaker 1: this blood diet and we're going to get into into 279 00:15:37,360 --> 00:15:39,920 Speaker 1: some more aspects of this little more. But it's such 280 00:15:39,960 --> 00:15:43,520 Speaker 1: a specialized diet that it demands a very specialized physiology. 281 00:15:44,360 --> 00:15:46,880 Speaker 1: It's not. And that's something to keep in mind again 282 00:15:46,880 --> 00:15:49,600 Speaker 1: when you think of of humanoid vampires, like, what would 283 00:15:49,600 --> 00:15:51,200 Speaker 1: it take for a human? Could a human live on 284 00:15:51,240 --> 00:15:54,080 Speaker 1: blood exclusively? No, a human couldn't. It would require a 285 00:15:54,120 --> 00:15:57,320 Speaker 1: different species of humanoid exactly entirely. Yeah, you'd have to 286 00:15:57,360 --> 00:15:59,840 Speaker 1: be a very tiny humanoid first of all. Um. But 287 00:15:59,880 --> 00:16:02,120 Speaker 1: I did want a little side note here mentioned that 288 00:16:02,240 --> 00:16:07,000 Speaker 1: the anticoagulating enzyme that they produce has been synthathesized by 289 00:16:07,000 --> 00:16:10,560 Speaker 1: researchers and it is called draculin. Nice. It isn't that nice, 290 00:16:10,640 --> 00:16:12,800 Speaker 1: And it's used in medication for strict victims to keep 291 00:16:12,800 --> 00:16:15,680 Speaker 1: tissue damage and a minimum by keeping that blood flow 292 00:16:15,720 --> 00:16:18,160 Speaker 1: to the tissues. Yeah, like we discussed when we were 293 00:16:18,160 --> 00:16:22,440 Speaker 1: talking about leeches, I believe any animal that that depends 294 00:16:22,480 --> 00:16:24,800 Speaker 1: on blood has to be kind of a hacker. And 295 00:16:24,840 --> 00:16:28,080 Speaker 1: the and the the bat though it's hard to call 296 00:16:28,120 --> 00:16:30,320 Speaker 1: about a parasite. You see people shying away from them 297 00:16:30,360 --> 00:16:33,200 Speaker 1: as bat and calling them a carnivore, but still they 298 00:16:33,280 --> 00:16:35,480 Speaker 1: have to be able to hack the blood. And so 299 00:16:35,880 --> 00:16:38,080 Speaker 1: from a medical standpoint, as we try to figure out 300 00:16:38,080 --> 00:16:40,240 Speaker 1: ways to hack the blood, we end up turning to 301 00:16:40,480 --> 00:16:43,000 Speaker 1: the to the leeches, to the bats, the parasites of 302 00:16:43,040 --> 00:16:44,880 Speaker 1: the world, to the blood drinkers of the world, and 303 00:16:44,920 --> 00:16:48,840 Speaker 1: see how they do it. Um. You mentioned the evolution 304 00:16:49,000 --> 00:16:51,920 Speaker 1: of the bat and the idea that they evolved from 305 00:16:51,920 --> 00:16:55,680 Speaker 1: insect eating bats in prehistory, and I just wanted to 306 00:16:55,760 --> 00:16:59,520 Speaker 1: run through UM that that that idea because it gave 307 00:16:59,520 --> 00:17:01,720 Speaker 1: me some visual old, didn't it It did? And uh 308 00:17:01,800 --> 00:17:04,159 Speaker 1: And specifically I was reading a fantastic book and you 309 00:17:04,160 --> 00:17:07,720 Speaker 1: were reading this as well, by Bill Shoot called Dark Banquet, 310 00:17:07,800 --> 00:17:11,720 Speaker 1: Blood and the Curious Lives of Blood Feeding Creatures. It's 311 00:17:11,760 --> 00:17:15,920 Speaker 1: available on paperback, hardcover, and kindle, and it's it's really excellent, 312 00:17:16,280 --> 00:17:19,720 Speaker 1: excellently written, great for just about any any reading level, 313 00:17:19,720 --> 00:17:23,320 Speaker 1: in any science level. UM. But he really goes into 314 00:17:23,320 --> 00:17:25,560 Speaker 1: this topic and I was. I really enjoyed it so 315 00:17:25,640 --> 00:17:28,760 Speaker 1: much I wanted to hit the three uh or so 316 00:17:28,920 --> 00:17:32,760 Speaker 1: hypotheses that he mentions. Now, the first hypothesis is, again, 317 00:17:33,040 --> 00:17:35,879 Speaker 1: we have these proto vampire bats and they're feeding on 318 00:17:35,960 --> 00:17:40,240 Speaker 1: blood in gorge ectoparasites found on large prehistoric animals. So 319 00:17:40,280 --> 00:17:42,720 Speaker 1: think of all those crazy prehistoric animals that we covered 320 00:17:42,880 --> 00:17:45,840 Speaker 1: in the past. Or you send pictures of um and there, 321 00:17:45,920 --> 00:17:48,639 Speaker 1: and there of course loaded with parasites, big old ticks, 322 00:17:48,680 --> 00:17:51,800 Speaker 1: big old fleas, other things that are gorging on the blood. Yeah, 323 00:17:51,800 --> 00:17:54,240 Speaker 1: it's a feast. And you're a bat, you're you're you 324 00:17:54,400 --> 00:17:57,480 Speaker 1: eat insects, and it's a world in which the insects 325 00:17:57,520 --> 00:18:00,560 Speaker 1: are are the available prey. And here is a large 326 00:18:00,600 --> 00:18:03,919 Speaker 1: animal and it's crawling with these things. So you're you're 327 00:18:03,960 --> 00:18:06,560 Speaker 1: gonna you're gonna eat those, right, You're gonna eat those 328 00:18:06,560 --> 00:18:10,000 Speaker 1: big blood gorge ticks and whatnot. And so that the 329 00:18:10,080 --> 00:18:13,160 Speaker 1: idea here is that they're dining on those and over 330 00:18:13,240 --> 00:18:16,560 Speaker 1: time they crossed the line, you know, they start drinking 331 00:18:16,600 --> 00:18:18,800 Speaker 1: some blood from the host, and then they reached the 332 00:18:18,800 --> 00:18:21,560 Speaker 1: point where they're living exclusively on the blood of the 333 00:18:21,560 --> 00:18:25,680 Speaker 1: host animal and ignoring all of those ticks and fleets. Now, 334 00:18:25,960 --> 00:18:28,280 Speaker 1: this is supported by the fact as a theory, as 335 00:18:28,280 --> 00:18:32,639 Speaker 1: a hypothesis, rather that bats are insectivore. So we know 336 00:18:32,760 --> 00:18:36,080 Speaker 1: that that prehistoric bats would have been eating insects, and 337 00:18:36,280 --> 00:18:41,640 Speaker 1: there are anecdotal reports of vampire bats praying on vampire moths. Now, 338 00:18:41,840 --> 00:18:44,440 Speaker 1: just that's gonna come as a surprise for a lot 339 00:18:44,440 --> 00:18:47,560 Speaker 1: of you, because yes, there is a vampire moth um 340 00:18:47,680 --> 00:18:50,120 Speaker 1: blood on blood here, yeah, and you'll find him in Malaysia, 341 00:18:50,640 --> 00:18:54,680 Speaker 1: you'll find him in Thailand. You're all southern Europe and 342 00:18:54,680 --> 00:18:58,000 Speaker 1: and so there. Again, there's anecdotal evidence that vampire bats 343 00:18:58,280 --> 00:19:02,640 Speaker 1: have preyed on blood engorged insects, So take that point. 344 00:19:02,600 --> 00:19:06,520 Speaker 1: It's another scenario that lends support to this idea. Is 345 00:19:06,560 --> 00:19:08,919 Speaker 1: the whole grimming thing, right, you had pointed that out. 346 00:19:09,000 --> 00:19:11,880 Speaker 1: That's that's important socially that you sit there and groom 347 00:19:11,880 --> 00:19:14,080 Speaker 1: each other. So that would be an opportunity to pick 348 00:19:14,080 --> 00:19:18,080 Speaker 1: out some nice, juicy morsels, right, That's so that could 349 00:19:18,160 --> 00:19:20,720 Speaker 1: lend some support to it. And I said that it 350 00:19:20,760 --> 00:19:23,400 Speaker 1: was a sort of short walk in logic to say 351 00:19:23,400 --> 00:19:26,600 Speaker 1: you would cross over. But that's also a little simplistic, right, 352 00:19:26,600 --> 00:19:28,720 Speaker 1: because that's like saying that if you had to be 353 00:19:28,800 --> 00:19:33,600 Speaker 1: a cannibal in this very dire situation as a human being, 354 00:19:34,000 --> 00:19:35,960 Speaker 1: that once you had that, you might go cannibal for 355 00:19:36,000 --> 00:19:38,560 Speaker 1: the rest of your life, right right. Yeah. We find 356 00:19:38,640 --> 00:19:41,520 Speaker 1: it increasingly when you try and apply some sort of 357 00:19:41,560 --> 00:19:45,320 Speaker 1: mathematical model for evolution, if you fall into this trap here, 358 00:19:45,359 --> 00:19:48,199 Speaker 1: because it's not a situation able X plus y equals 359 00:19:48,280 --> 00:19:50,640 Speaker 1: z here so it must be the same here, and 360 00:19:51,080 --> 00:19:55,119 Speaker 1: it gets gets complex anyway, Um that expert brock Fenton 361 00:19:55,320 --> 00:19:57,960 Speaker 1: disagrees with this, uh, this theory that we've been discussing, 362 00:19:58,000 --> 00:20:02,200 Speaker 1: and he argues on some three points. Number one, ectoparasites 363 00:20:02,240 --> 00:20:04,760 Speaker 1: are small, Like even if we're talking about a prehistoric animal, 364 00:20:05,280 --> 00:20:08,480 Speaker 1: it's it's still gonna have small parasites. It's not like 365 00:20:08,640 --> 00:20:12,760 Speaker 1: the giant elephant head giant ticks. So let's take like 366 00:20:12,880 --> 00:20:15,840 Speaker 1: thousands of these things. Yeah, you still a lot of them, 367 00:20:15,840 --> 00:20:19,000 Speaker 1: and it's gonna be difficult to act. The ectoparasites are 368 00:20:19,000 --> 00:20:22,639 Speaker 1: difficult to find on other animals, and vampire bats are 369 00:20:22,680 --> 00:20:25,639 Speaker 1: restricted to a very slim portion of the Americans. And 370 00:20:25,760 --> 00:20:27,880 Speaker 1: so part of his argument is, if this was really 371 00:20:27,880 --> 00:20:29,560 Speaker 1: how things were gonna go down, why didn't it go 372 00:20:29,640 --> 00:20:33,680 Speaker 1: down like this in other places? So he presents hypothesis 373 00:20:33,760 --> 00:20:36,479 Speaker 1: number two, the idea that proto vampire bats fed on 374 00:20:36,560 --> 00:20:40,720 Speaker 1: insects and larva crawling around the gaping wounds of large 375 00:20:40,720 --> 00:20:46,159 Speaker 1: prehistoric mammals. So, which is another wondrously grotesque image to 376 00:20:46,200 --> 00:20:49,360 Speaker 1: imagine a giant prehistoric creature. It's, you know, it's shambling 377 00:20:49,359 --> 00:20:51,679 Speaker 1: through the forest. Maybe it's something that attacked it, had 378 00:20:51,680 --> 00:20:53,560 Speaker 1: got into a fight, or it just ripped itself on 379 00:20:53,640 --> 00:20:56,119 Speaker 1: some thorns, just got this bleeding hole. So what happens 380 00:20:56,119 --> 00:20:59,400 Speaker 1: to a bleeding hole on an animal? Insects come for it, right, 381 00:20:59,600 --> 00:21:03,080 Speaker 1: things start laying their squirming larvae in there, and uh. 382 00:21:03,080 --> 00:21:05,000 Speaker 1: And so a bat might come and say, well, hey, 383 00:21:05,040 --> 00:21:07,439 Speaker 1: I want to hang out where all these delicious insects 384 00:21:07,480 --> 00:21:10,600 Speaker 1: are hanging out. And then they end up inevitably drinking 385 00:21:10,640 --> 00:21:13,560 Speaker 1: from that font as well, which again is kind of 386 00:21:13,600 --> 00:21:18,240 Speaker 1: too easy to walk here. Yeah. Shoot. In his book Counters, 387 00:21:18,240 --> 00:21:21,720 Speaker 1: he says that the scenario requires large wound sits on 388 00:21:21,760 --> 00:21:25,880 Speaker 1: a regular basis um and uh. And also, as we're 389 00:21:25,880 --> 00:21:29,080 Speaker 1: gonna get into a little later, vampire invertebrate blood is 390 00:21:29,240 --> 00:21:32,320 Speaker 1: water and protein. There's no fat, so vampire bats can't 391 00:21:32,320 --> 00:21:35,760 Speaker 1: store it as fat like non blood drinking bats store 392 00:21:35,800 --> 00:21:38,920 Speaker 1: away their their their food. Uh. They need to feed 393 00:21:38,920 --> 00:21:41,600 Speaker 1: and consume fifty of their body weight and blood each night. 394 00:21:41,640 --> 00:21:43,280 Speaker 1: So you need to be able to find if you're 395 00:21:43,320 --> 00:21:46,840 Speaker 1: depending upon wounds, uh, surrounded by insects, you've gotta be 396 00:21:46,880 --> 00:21:49,320 Speaker 1: able to find those wounds surrounded by insects on a 397 00:21:49,400 --> 00:21:52,919 Speaker 1: regular basis basis, and also echolocation is gonna be useless 398 00:21:52,920 --> 00:21:56,520 Speaker 1: in finding these animals. Um It's it's just that there 399 00:21:56,520 --> 00:21:59,840 Speaker 1: are a number of holes in this argument as well. Now, 400 00:22:00,040 --> 00:22:05,200 Speaker 1: a third hypothesis here is something called the arboreal feeding hypothesis, 401 00:22:05,359 --> 00:22:09,520 Speaker 1: and it really focuses on carnivorous members of the neotropical 402 00:22:09,600 --> 00:22:13,800 Speaker 1: bat family Philisto muda i found in South America where 403 00:22:13,840 --> 00:22:18,399 Speaker 1: formerly there had been vast forests which were then replaced 404 00:22:19,040 --> 00:22:21,439 Speaker 1: by grasslands. So what does that mean. That means that 405 00:22:21,440 --> 00:22:25,000 Speaker 1: all of a sudden you have very small little islands 406 00:22:25,040 --> 00:22:29,320 Speaker 1: of forest area, and you have a lot of big 407 00:22:29,400 --> 00:22:33,320 Speaker 1: mammals taking refuge in these trees, sleeping in them at night, 408 00:22:33,760 --> 00:22:35,800 Speaker 1: and so all of a sudden you've got a population 409 00:22:36,040 --> 00:22:39,280 Speaker 1: of one tree that might be hosting many different hosts 410 00:22:39,800 --> 00:22:41,880 Speaker 1: um as opposed to being spread out through the forest. 411 00:22:42,359 --> 00:22:46,359 Speaker 1: And this is an opportunity for vampire bats. So what 412 00:22:46,520 --> 00:22:49,119 Speaker 1: you're talking about here is a bunch of animals like 413 00:22:49,240 --> 00:22:52,880 Speaker 1: sloth taking refuge in these trees, falling asleep, and then 414 00:22:52,960 --> 00:22:55,359 Speaker 1: these vampire bats, who are so stealthy by the way, 415 00:22:55,359 --> 00:22:57,440 Speaker 1: sneaking up and just saying well you don't mind if 416 00:22:57,440 --> 00:23:00,760 Speaker 1: I do, and taking their blood samples there, and then 417 00:23:00,840 --> 00:23:03,840 Speaker 1: of course this would encourage that behavior over and again 418 00:23:04,240 --> 00:23:06,880 Speaker 1: as an adaptation in this scenario. Because if you've got 419 00:23:06,880 --> 00:23:08,680 Speaker 1: that loss of habitat, and all of a sudden you've 420 00:23:08,680 --> 00:23:12,560 Speaker 1: got these mammals congregated in the trees, well that makes 421 00:23:12,560 --> 00:23:18,520 Speaker 1: easy pickings. So which hypothesis is true? Well, the answer 422 00:23:18,640 --> 00:23:21,480 Speaker 1: still open to debate. Uh. That you know, it's possible. 423 00:23:21,720 --> 00:23:22,960 Speaker 1: As with a lot of things, it's more of a 424 00:23:23,000 --> 00:23:26,639 Speaker 1: combination of these ideas as opposed to one distinct idea. 425 00:23:27,040 --> 00:23:30,520 Speaker 1: And uh, and we have to remember that it's it's 426 00:23:30,920 --> 00:23:33,040 Speaker 1: it's it's difficult to avoid falling into the trap of 427 00:23:33,080 --> 00:23:38,040 Speaker 1: thinking of evolution as this clockwork predictable scenario. Again, if 428 00:23:38,040 --> 00:23:40,600 Speaker 1: it's X here, then it's X there. Uh. If we 429 00:23:40,640 --> 00:23:42,440 Speaker 1: turn back the clock and did it again, everything would 430 00:23:42,480 --> 00:23:44,440 Speaker 1: come back to the same place that we get the 431 00:23:44,520 --> 00:23:47,840 Speaker 1: same results. And that's that's likely not how it goes. 432 00:23:48,359 --> 00:23:51,520 Speaker 1: Um For whatever reason, a single group of New World 433 00:23:51,640 --> 00:23:56,680 Speaker 1: leaf nose bats evolved as the only vertebrate obligate sangle bores. 434 00:23:56,760 --> 00:23:59,399 Speaker 1: And it's pretty amazing. All Right, we're gonna take a 435 00:23:59,440 --> 00:24:01,320 Speaker 1: quick break. When we get back, we're gonna talk more 436 00:24:01,320 --> 00:24:12,919 Speaker 1: about the hard knock life and uh blood letting. All right, 437 00:24:13,000 --> 00:24:16,440 Speaker 1: we're back. Let's talk about these vampire bouts because if 438 00:24:16,440 --> 00:24:19,200 Speaker 1: you made it this far in the Vampire About Territory, 439 00:24:19,280 --> 00:24:22,120 Speaker 1: you're about to get this serious blood payoff. Because this 440 00:24:22,200 --> 00:24:26,040 Speaker 1: is fascinating stuff. And uh, maybe we should start this 441 00:24:26,119 --> 00:24:29,840 Speaker 1: section as like, you imagine you are the vampire bout, 442 00:24:29,960 --> 00:24:34,280 Speaker 1: dear listener. Yeah, I imagine that you have sort of 443 00:24:34,320 --> 00:24:37,760 Speaker 1: gone down this uh almost evolution. I wouldn't almost say 444 00:24:37,720 --> 00:24:41,160 Speaker 1: an evolutionary dead end, but you've you've gone down far 445 00:24:41,280 --> 00:24:44,560 Speaker 1: enough that you're you're in this very niche area and 446 00:24:44,600 --> 00:24:46,520 Speaker 1: there's no there's no turning back. It's like that line 447 00:24:46,520 --> 00:24:49,240 Speaker 1: in Macbeth where Shakespeare says, you know, if I've waited 448 00:24:49,720 --> 00:24:52,240 Speaker 1: that the main character says, I've waded through blood so 449 00:24:52,359 --> 00:24:54,200 Speaker 1: far that if I were to turn back, it would 450 00:24:54,200 --> 00:24:55,920 Speaker 1: be just as much work to keep going. And that's 451 00:24:55,920 --> 00:24:58,879 Speaker 1: where the vampire bad is. It's a hard knock life 452 00:24:59,000 --> 00:25:01,520 Speaker 1: that the vampire back has evolved into, but there's no 453 00:25:01,560 --> 00:25:04,720 Speaker 1: turning and turning back at least not anytime soon, that's right. 454 00:25:04,800 --> 00:25:08,000 Speaker 1: So you are stuck with this blood diet and the 455 00:25:08,119 --> 00:25:10,680 Speaker 1: bad news here is again and We've talked about it before. 456 00:25:10,880 --> 00:25:14,400 Speaker 1: Blood just doesn't have much to it in terms of nutrients. 457 00:25:14,400 --> 00:25:16,600 Speaker 1: In fact, a percent of it is water. So what 458 00:25:16,640 --> 00:25:19,119 Speaker 1: do you have to do Every night? You must go 459 00:25:19,160 --> 00:25:23,480 Speaker 1: out and hunt and lap up of your body weight. 460 00:25:24,359 --> 00:25:26,440 Speaker 1: And this is this is a hard thing to do 461 00:25:26,600 --> 00:25:29,760 Speaker 1: because you can't store any fat that it might have 462 00:25:29,800 --> 00:25:32,360 Speaker 1: because it doesn't have any fats. So you every night 463 00:25:32,480 --> 00:25:35,320 Speaker 1: are obligated to go out. You can't sleep it off, 464 00:25:35,800 --> 00:25:37,840 Speaker 1: you know. You Also you can't hybrid it. You can't 465 00:25:38,080 --> 00:25:41,960 Speaker 1: build up stores for later. You're there's no uh, there's 466 00:25:42,000 --> 00:25:44,360 Speaker 1: no preparing for the winter. If winter comes, you're you're 467 00:25:44,400 --> 00:25:46,640 Speaker 1: gone if you can't get blood. So and that's why 468 00:25:46,840 --> 00:25:48,960 Speaker 1: we see these three species of vampire bats living in 469 00:25:49,000 --> 00:25:53,480 Speaker 1: tropical areas. They cannot knack it in areas that have 470 00:25:54,119 --> 00:25:57,280 Speaker 1: cold climates. So that's right, you cannot hack the cold weather. 471 00:25:57,320 --> 00:25:59,320 Speaker 1: You have to take advantage of these areas that have 472 00:25:59,520 --> 00:26:05,000 Speaker 1: warmer web other and you must be really wildly. So 473 00:26:05,080 --> 00:26:06,520 Speaker 1: it's not just like, hey, I gotta go out and 474 00:26:06,520 --> 00:26:08,679 Speaker 1: get some blood. No, you're gonna be the best at 475 00:26:08,720 --> 00:26:13,080 Speaker 1: getting blood. Is any blood getting mammal is gonna get. Yeah, 476 00:26:13,160 --> 00:26:15,879 Speaker 1: you've got to use your stealth to the highest degree 477 00:26:15,960 --> 00:26:18,480 Speaker 1: because you need to prey on sweeping animals. You need 478 00:26:18,520 --> 00:26:20,919 Speaker 1: to not wake them up while you're drinking their blood. 479 00:26:21,280 --> 00:26:24,000 Speaker 1: And you can't exert a tremendous amount of effort and 480 00:26:24,160 --> 00:26:28,040 Speaker 1: energy finding your prey because again you're you're you're on 481 00:26:28,320 --> 00:26:31,480 Speaker 1: a very tight budget here. You have to eat every night, 482 00:26:32,080 --> 00:26:34,600 Speaker 1: and you can't spend too much energy because you can't 483 00:26:34,600 --> 00:26:36,520 Speaker 1: store that much energy. So you can't go on long 484 00:26:36,600 --> 00:26:40,359 Speaker 1: drawn old hunts covering you know, vast miles of of area. 485 00:26:40,400 --> 00:26:41,960 Speaker 1: You have to you have to really hone in. You 486 00:26:42,040 --> 00:26:44,120 Speaker 1: gotta make it work, and you've got to You've gotta 487 00:26:44,119 --> 00:26:46,679 Speaker 1: get defeating, that's right. And so as a result, you 488 00:26:46,720 --> 00:26:51,920 Speaker 1: have this exquisitely sensitive heat detecting molecule covering nerve ending 489 00:26:52,000 --> 00:26:55,480 Speaker 1: on your nose, and this allows you to detect infrared 490 00:26:55,600 --> 00:27:01,280 Speaker 1: heat that is just beaming from areas on a livestock's 491 00:27:01,320 --> 00:27:04,240 Speaker 1: body and and that that's sort of like the the 492 00:27:04,280 --> 00:27:05,760 Speaker 1: area that you know you're going to hone in on, 493 00:27:05,760 --> 00:27:07,520 Speaker 1: because as you said, you don't have tons of energy here. 494 00:27:07,560 --> 00:27:09,520 Speaker 1: You gotta be fast. Yeah, you gotta go right for 495 00:27:09,560 --> 00:27:12,200 Speaker 1: the vein. There's no just crawling around on it's romp 496 00:27:12,280 --> 00:27:14,480 Speaker 1: until you find an area that's that's that's right. You 497 00:27:14,480 --> 00:27:16,120 Speaker 1: can't feel it out, you gotta see it. You gotta 498 00:27:16,119 --> 00:27:18,280 Speaker 1: focus in on it, and luckily the vampire back can 499 00:27:18,280 --> 00:27:22,320 Speaker 1: douce that. Yeah, and these guys that mostly attack from ground, 500 00:27:22,359 --> 00:27:25,560 Speaker 1: though sometimes it's from the trees, but they can actually run. 501 00:27:26,119 --> 00:27:29,119 Speaker 1: It's only like two point five miles per hour or something, 502 00:27:29,160 --> 00:27:31,320 Speaker 1: but still that's pretty fast, and that they think. The 503 00:27:31,320 --> 00:27:34,440 Speaker 1: reason for that, researchers think, uh, is because if they're 504 00:27:34,440 --> 00:27:36,720 Speaker 1: around something like a horse or a cow, it's easy 505 00:27:36,800 --> 00:27:38,879 Speaker 1: to get trampled upon, So you gotta get out of 506 00:27:38,880 --> 00:27:41,240 Speaker 1: their fashion. Good people to hop away. But it's pretty 507 00:27:41,240 --> 00:27:43,840 Speaker 1: amazing to see them running, all right. See you land 508 00:27:43,840 --> 00:27:46,040 Speaker 1: next to the cow. You hit the ground running more 509 00:27:46,080 --> 00:27:48,760 Speaker 1: or less than you you you scamper up there right 510 00:27:48,760 --> 00:27:51,400 Speaker 1: to the place that that hot spot that you've you've 511 00:27:51,440 --> 00:27:55,080 Speaker 1: seen with your your your fantastic heat vision. And this 512 00:27:55,119 --> 00:27:57,920 Speaker 1: is where you're gonna feed. What do you do? Well, 513 00:27:58,040 --> 00:28:01,040 Speaker 1: first thing you do is you lick that area where 514 00:28:01,080 --> 00:28:05,840 Speaker 1: where you're gonna apply the incision the saliva anticoagulants. Yes, 515 00:28:05,840 --> 00:28:09,920 Speaker 1: because the saliva here is key and is really amazing 516 00:28:10,400 --> 00:28:13,440 Speaker 1: to quote Bill Shoot from his book Dark Banquet, the 517 00:28:13,480 --> 00:28:18,920 Speaker 1: process actually consists of a maddening cascade of chemical reactions 518 00:28:18,960 --> 00:28:22,200 Speaker 1: that must occur before clot forms. Because again, you're making 519 00:28:22,680 --> 00:28:25,080 Speaker 1: when you make your incision now with your your sharp teeth, 520 00:28:25,760 --> 00:28:28,119 Speaker 1: you're making a very small wound. You're not just you know, 521 00:28:28,160 --> 00:28:31,119 Speaker 1: you're not making this enormous font from which to drink. 522 00:28:31,160 --> 00:28:33,639 Speaker 1: You're making something that giving its own devices, given the 523 00:28:33,640 --> 00:28:36,199 Speaker 1: body's own defenses, this would normally close up in a 524 00:28:36,200 --> 00:28:39,000 Speaker 1: couple of minutes. This is not You're not just you know, 525 00:28:39,040 --> 00:28:42,560 Speaker 1: opening a jugular here and dancing around the fountain. You're 526 00:28:42,560 --> 00:28:47,080 Speaker 1: creating a small wound, but anticoagulants in the blood prevented 527 00:28:47,160 --> 00:28:51,240 Speaker 1: from clotting, allowing you to feed there for the amount 528 00:28:51,240 --> 00:28:53,320 Speaker 1: of time necessary to get that full meal. Yeah, in 529 00:28:53,320 --> 00:28:57,320 Speaker 1: this case about minutes. And if you think about their incisors, 530 00:28:57,320 --> 00:29:00,520 Speaker 1: they are knife sharp um. In fact, Bruce Patterson, a 531 00:29:00,600 --> 00:29:03,440 Speaker 1: zoologists at Field Museum in Chicago, says, you can actually 532 00:29:03,440 --> 00:29:07,000 Speaker 1: cut yourself handling a bat skull in a museum. They're 533 00:29:07,000 --> 00:29:09,600 Speaker 1: that sharp. Because again we're talking about efficiency here, getting 534 00:29:09,640 --> 00:29:14,000 Speaker 1: in and getting in quick, and their tongues also get 535 00:29:14,000 --> 00:29:17,000 Speaker 1: into the game here because they contain a specialized groove 536 00:29:17,040 --> 00:29:20,920 Speaker 1: that allows a blood meal to flow via capillary action. 537 00:29:21,360 --> 00:29:24,640 Speaker 1: So they do not suck, they slurp, They lap up, 538 00:29:24,760 --> 00:29:26,680 Speaker 1: which is another thing to keep in mind because again 539 00:29:26,720 --> 00:29:28,520 Speaker 1: it's it's a small wound. It's not going to be 540 00:29:28,600 --> 00:29:31,920 Speaker 1: held open by suction. And uh and to your point 541 00:29:31,920 --> 00:29:34,320 Speaker 1: about the teeth, that's another aspect of this too, is 542 00:29:34,320 --> 00:29:36,240 Speaker 1: that it's such a small cut in with such a 543 00:29:36,240 --> 00:29:39,400 Speaker 1: sharp knife you barely feel it while you're sleeping. UM. 544 00:29:39,440 --> 00:29:44,360 Speaker 1: In his book, Bill Shoot talks about an encounter with 545 00:29:44,440 --> 00:29:47,440 Speaker 1: a bat and a hen that had him reeling. And 546 00:29:47,480 --> 00:29:49,640 Speaker 1: I love this, you know what I'm talking about. So 547 00:29:49,640 --> 00:29:51,200 Speaker 1: I was thinking about this. Not only does the bat 548 00:29:51,240 --> 00:29:56,360 Speaker 1: have data from UM from the infrared molecule and data 549 00:29:56,440 --> 00:30:00,640 Speaker 1: from the breathing pattern of the livestock, but also has 550 00:30:00,680 --> 00:30:06,800 Speaker 1: been observing it and perhaps taking those observations and passing 551 00:30:06,880 --> 00:30:09,560 Speaker 1: them down among its young and so on and so forth. 552 00:30:09,760 --> 00:30:12,560 Speaker 1: And what I mean is that Bill Shoot saw this 553 00:30:12,760 --> 00:30:14,920 Speaker 1: bat sidle up to a hen. Thought the hen was 554 00:30:14,920 --> 00:30:17,600 Speaker 1: going to be like, no way getaway, but it did not, 555 00:30:18,160 --> 00:30:21,520 Speaker 1: because the bat then went and cuddled up to the 556 00:30:21,560 --> 00:30:24,760 Speaker 1: hen right at this area it's called UM I think 557 00:30:24,800 --> 00:30:28,360 Speaker 1: it's called a brood patch. It's where chicks will go 558 00:30:28,600 --> 00:30:32,560 Speaker 1: because there's more heat and more capillaries that are congregated there, 559 00:30:32,640 --> 00:30:37,120 Speaker 1: so there's more heat available. So essentially, this bat is 560 00:30:37,400 --> 00:30:41,160 Speaker 1: mimicking a chick and cozing up with the hen. And 561 00:30:41,200 --> 00:30:43,920 Speaker 1: what he said is that he saw the hen like 562 00:30:44,040 --> 00:30:48,360 Speaker 1: visibly looked to be relaxed and then settled down, and 563 00:30:48,400 --> 00:30:50,640 Speaker 1: then the bat kind of burrowed down a little bit more, 564 00:30:50,840 --> 00:30:54,840 Speaker 1: and a couple of minutes later he saw evidence of 565 00:30:54,880 --> 00:30:58,240 Speaker 1: that blood from underneath the hen where that bat had 566 00:30:58,280 --> 00:31:02,760 Speaker 1: been suckling a the vein. I mean, I think it's 567 00:31:02,800 --> 00:31:07,080 Speaker 1: amazing that essentially said hello, hen, I know I look 568 00:31:07,160 --> 00:31:09,320 Speaker 1: like a bat, but really I'm a sweet little chick 569 00:31:09,360 --> 00:31:12,560 Speaker 1: who just needs a little warmth. That is amazing. Now 570 00:31:12,560 --> 00:31:14,520 Speaker 1: you mentioned the tongue earlier, and the tongue is also 571 00:31:14,640 --> 00:31:17,880 Speaker 1: really key here. Again, the bat is not sucking the blood. 572 00:31:18,200 --> 00:31:21,280 Speaker 1: It's it's lapping the blood. But but lapping. It's easy 573 00:31:21,320 --> 00:31:23,640 Speaker 1: to just say, oh, lapping and just sort of have 574 00:31:23,760 --> 00:31:25,720 Speaker 1: this loose idea in your mind of a dog or 575 00:31:25,760 --> 00:31:29,360 Speaker 1: a cat lapping up the milk or water, which even that, incidentally, 576 00:31:29,400 --> 00:31:30,920 Speaker 1: if you slow it down and look at the video 577 00:31:31,160 --> 00:31:34,239 Speaker 1: is a far more complicated process than we than we 578 00:31:34,560 --> 00:31:37,360 Speaker 1: give the credit. With the bat, you have this piston 579 00:31:37,480 --> 00:31:40,160 Speaker 1: like motion of the tongue and it causes the blood 580 00:31:40,320 --> 00:31:43,080 Speaker 1: to flow along a pair of grooves on the bottom 581 00:31:43,120 --> 00:31:46,280 Speaker 1: of the tug and into the mouth through that cleft 582 00:31:46,360 --> 00:31:49,000 Speaker 1: in the lower lip that we mentioned earlier. So you 583 00:31:49,040 --> 00:31:51,000 Speaker 1: have to imagine that again. It's like this piston action 584 00:31:51,000 --> 00:31:55,000 Speaker 1: of the tongue just and you get this flow going 585 00:31:55,080 --> 00:31:58,080 Speaker 1: out of the wound into the bat's mouth. Yeah, we're 586 00:31:58,080 --> 00:32:01,880 Speaker 1: talking about a tablespoon when it's all um done. But again, 587 00:32:02,120 --> 00:32:05,520 Speaker 1: that's half of the bat's body weight. So after it 588 00:32:05,600 --> 00:32:07,880 Speaker 1: leaves the tongue, it goes into the esophagus and down 589 00:32:07,920 --> 00:32:12,959 Speaker 1: into the stomach, which is richly lined with blood vessels 590 00:32:12,960 --> 00:32:15,920 Speaker 1: that absorb that water and that shunts it straight to 591 00:32:16,360 --> 00:32:20,080 Speaker 1: the kidneys before it actually goes to the intestines. So 592 00:32:20,080 --> 00:32:22,440 Speaker 1: that something is really important here because it is absorbing 593 00:32:22,480 --> 00:32:25,320 Speaker 1: all of that water. But the reason is is because 594 00:32:25,360 --> 00:32:27,920 Speaker 1: they have to work fast, these bats in terms of 595 00:32:27,920 --> 00:32:31,760 Speaker 1: digesting and expelling this stuff from their systems. Yeah, again, 596 00:32:31,800 --> 00:32:34,800 Speaker 1: they're loading up on blood and they have to be 597 00:32:34,840 --> 00:32:37,080 Speaker 1: ready to escape at a moment's notice, you know that 598 00:32:37,160 --> 00:32:40,440 Speaker 1: cow might wake up, uh anything at any time, and 599 00:32:40,480 --> 00:32:42,200 Speaker 1: you're gonna have to get away. You're gonna have to 600 00:32:42,360 --> 00:32:45,200 Speaker 1: then fly away. And you cannot be weighted down with 601 00:32:45,280 --> 00:32:48,400 Speaker 1: all of this waterway because again we're talking about just 602 00:32:48,400 --> 00:32:51,040 Speaker 1: just consuming you know, half your body weight and food 603 00:32:51,400 --> 00:32:53,800 Speaker 1: and you're and you're gonna have that that stomach just 604 00:32:53,880 --> 00:32:55,640 Speaker 1: filled with water. So you've got to get rid of it. 605 00:32:55,800 --> 00:33:00,280 Speaker 1: And that's why you have this rapid uh removed oval 606 00:33:00,280 --> 00:33:02,400 Speaker 1: of the water, shut it through the kidneys. And then 607 00:33:02,440 --> 00:33:05,680 Speaker 1: the bat vampire bat is urinating as it's feeding, Like 608 00:33:05,760 --> 00:33:09,440 Speaker 1: shortly after it starts feeding, it starts urinating because it's 609 00:33:09,440 --> 00:33:12,479 Speaker 1: it has to prepare for takeoff. Yeah, to add insult 610 00:33:12,560 --> 00:33:17,520 Speaker 1: to injury here, and it avoids soiling itself by extending 611 00:33:17,640 --> 00:33:21,520 Speaker 1: one hind limb sideways and downward. So it's like, I'm 612 00:33:21,520 --> 00:33:23,640 Speaker 1: not gonna get on any on me, but hey, you 613 00:33:23,840 --> 00:33:26,239 Speaker 1: sorry about that. And it's also an interesting scenario when 614 00:33:26,280 --> 00:33:29,760 Speaker 1: you start thinking about about the urine itself and it 615 00:33:29,800 --> 00:33:31,920 Speaker 1: has to the urine that the bat is pumping out 616 00:33:32,040 --> 00:33:36,960 Speaker 1: is getting increasingly concentrated as it goes. Because part of 617 00:33:36,960 --> 00:33:38,640 Speaker 1: the whole deal with our urine. Of course, we're getting 618 00:33:38,680 --> 00:33:42,360 Speaker 1: rid of these toxic aspects of our meal and uh, 619 00:33:42,400 --> 00:33:43,880 Speaker 1: and that's what the bat is doing as well. But 620 00:33:43,920 --> 00:33:46,800 Speaker 1: it's doing in such a such a such a fast 621 00:33:46,840 --> 00:33:50,080 Speaker 1: process at play here that you just have the concentration 622 00:33:50,120 --> 00:33:51,920 Speaker 1: of the urine is just building up and building up 623 00:33:52,040 --> 00:33:55,280 Speaker 1: the more that it urinates. And you get into this 624 00:33:55,360 --> 00:33:58,880 Speaker 1: interesting area here too, where despite the fact that the 625 00:33:58,960 --> 00:34:04,040 Speaker 1: vampire bat has this this liquid diet, and despite the 626 00:34:04,080 --> 00:34:07,760 Speaker 1: fact that it lives in the tropics exclusively, it lives 627 00:34:07,920 --> 00:34:12,640 Speaker 1: in its own kind of personal physiological desert, there's always 628 00:34:12,640 --> 00:34:15,319 Speaker 1: this risk of dehydration because it has to get rid 629 00:34:15,320 --> 00:34:17,799 Speaker 1: of so much of the water that it consumes through 630 00:34:17,840 --> 00:34:21,719 Speaker 1: its meals. That that that that again factors into the 631 00:34:21,760 --> 00:34:25,040 Speaker 1: economy of the vampire bat. It can't it can't live 632 00:34:25,120 --> 00:34:27,680 Speaker 1: in a place where it's any kind of dryness, because 633 00:34:27,719 --> 00:34:29,480 Speaker 1: it does it it's living, it's living with such a 634 00:34:29,560 --> 00:34:34,839 Speaker 1: slim margin um between it's it's it's life and complete dehydration. Yeah, 635 00:34:34,840 --> 00:34:38,680 Speaker 1: that's a that's a really complex balancing game there, And 636 00:34:38,880 --> 00:34:41,400 Speaker 1: I think it speaks again to this idea, or at 637 00:34:41,480 --> 00:34:43,600 Speaker 1: least in my head, that they almants feel like they're 638 00:34:43,600 --> 00:34:46,120 Speaker 1: cursed in a sense like in and of course I'm 639 00:34:46,239 --> 00:34:50,800 Speaker 1: evoking uh, vampire lore here, but you know you can't. 640 00:34:51,440 --> 00:34:54,040 Speaker 1: You can't hibernate. You have to live in this very 641 00:34:54,080 --> 00:34:58,279 Speaker 1: specific area, um and kind after night you must go 642 00:34:58,320 --> 00:35:03,160 Speaker 1: out and kill, well not the kill perpect blood. One 643 00:35:03,160 --> 00:35:06,600 Speaker 1: thing that makes me think about you. You've done freelance work, 644 00:35:06,640 --> 00:35:09,640 Speaker 1: of course, freelance writing, uh and I have as well. 645 00:35:09,719 --> 00:35:12,960 Speaker 1: And at times you do you like like like myself, 646 00:35:12,960 --> 00:35:15,080 Speaker 1: You've probably ticket You've thought yourself, well, could I just 647 00:35:15,120 --> 00:35:18,080 Speaker 1: depend up solely on freelance writing? And I feel like it. 648 00:35:18,200 --> 00:35:19,960 Speaker 1: You end up getting into this sort of vampire bat 649 00:35:20,080 --> 00:35:22,560 Speaker 1: situation where you're like, yes, if I, if I pray, 650 00:35:22,760 --> 00:35:26,120 Speaker 1: if I get enough gigs on a regular basis in 651 00:35:26,160 --> 00:35:29,120 Speaker 1: the in the just the right environment, and I never sleep, 652 00:35:29,239 --> 00:35:31,440 Speaker 1: never hibernate, then I can make it work. I can 653 00:35:31,600 --> 00:35:35,000 Speaker 1: just barely make it work, and I can survive and 654 00:35:35,000 --> 00:35:37,160 Speaker 1: and and pay all my bills. And then you end 655 00:35:37,239 --> 00:35:39,799 Speaker 1: up just defecating and urinating on yourself all the time 656 00:35:39,840 --> 00:35:43,000 Speaker 1: to avoid having to deal with any loss of energy, right, 657 00:35:43,080 --> 00:35:46,200 Speaker 1: and you're always looking for that that next that next kill, 658 00:35:46,600 --> 00:35:49,840 Speaker 1: that next job. Yeah, it is. It's kind of I 659 00:35:50,000 --> 00:35:53,480 Speaker 1: like that analogy. Yeah, the vampire bat is living on 660 00:35:53,520 --> 00:35:55,879 Speaker 1: the margins here, you know, it's just it's it's it's 661 00:35:55,880 --> 00:35:57,920 Speaker 1: found this niche. But it is a hard niche to 662 00:35:58,000 --> 00:36:01,480 Speaker 1: exist in. Indeed, it is. I want to point out 663 00:36:01,520 --> 00:36:04,880 Speaker 1: that we do have a few fossil vampire bats, including 664 00:36:04,960 --> 00:36:08,719 Speaker 1: the biggest vampire bat that that ever existed as far 665 00:36:08,760 --> 00:36:10,719 Speaker 1: as we can tell from the fossil record, and that's 666 00:36:10,719 --> 00:36:15,759 Speaker 1: the thirty percent larger uh do Modus dracula, which is 667 00:36:15,800 --> 00:36:18,120 Speaker 1: of course a great great name for a vampire bat 668 00:36:18,239 --> 00:36:21,200 Speaker 1: or some sort of a you know, Gothic band uh 669 00:36:21,239 --> 00:36:23,880 Speaker 1: And they were they were total vampires. They were not 670 00:36:23,960 --> 00:36:26,600 Speaker 1: any kind of transitional form, and they existed farther up 671 00:36:26,680 --> 00:36:29,640 Speaker 1: into the America's But the idea is, this larger bat 672 00:36:29,920 --> 00:36:33,480 Speaker 1: is depending on the blood of larger species, and if 673 00:36:33,520 --> 00:36:36,719 Speaker 1: those species died out in these sorry times, so did 674 00:36:36,760 --> 00:36:39,200 Speaker 1: this And so the domain of the vampire bat was 675 00:36:39,280 --> 00:36:43,400 Speaker 1: once larger and contained more species than it shrinks. And 676 00:36:43,400 --> 00:36:47,080 Speaker 1: it's then it's confined to these these hot tropical zones 677 00:36:47,560 --> 00:36:49,640 Speaker 1: and the few animals that they can still prey on 678 00:36:49,680 --> 00:36:53,120 Speaker 1: for blood. Ah. But what of global warming, which is 679 00:36:53,480 --> 00:36:57,839 Speaker 1: actually warming up many parts of the world, and this 680 00:36:57,880 --> 00:37:01,359 Speaker 1: has led some people to say, hey, we think that 681 00:37:01,400 --> 00:37:04,000 Speaker 1: there is going to be an increase in the vampire 682 00:37:04,160 --> 00:37:08,640 Speaker 1: bat population, specifically in North America, in Texas and some 683 00:37:08,760 --> 00:37:12,719 Speaker 1: parts of Louisiana in the next couple of decades, so 684 00:37:12,840 --> 00:37:16,080 Speaker 1: they might be coming to a city near you. Yes, 685 00:37:16,600 --> 00:37:19,480 Speaker 1: all right, so, um, we've given you guys a description 686 00:37:19,920 --> 00:37:22,200 Speaker 1: of these bats, but if you would like to see 687 00:37:22,400 --> 00:37:26,400 Speaker 1: them specifically on a vamp cam, you can at this 688 00:37:26,520 --> 00:37:28,279 Speaker 1: very moment. In fact, there's a there's a camera in 689 00:37:28,320 --> 00:37:31,080 Speaker 1: there twenty four hours a day you can observe these 690 00:37:31,440 --> 00:37:34,640 Speaker 1: and this is at the Organization for Bat Conservation, So 691 00:37:34,719 --> 00:37:38,200 Speaker 1: that's bad Conservation dot Org. Yeah. I was looking at 692 00:37:38,200 --> 00:37:40,440 Speaker 1: the other day and they're they're really adorable where they're 693 00:37:40,440 --> 00:37:43,319 Speaker 1: scurrying around. That's the thing about the vampire bad It's 694 00:37:43,320 --> 00:37:46,080 Speaker 1: like part of this responds to them, and we with this, 695 00:37:46,239 --> 00:37:48,960 Speaker 1: uh this something kind of cute about them, But then 696 00:37:48,960 --> 00:37:52,120 Speaker 1: there's also something that in the very depth of our 697 00:37:52,160 --> 00:37:55,520 Speaker 1: genes we we can't help but find a repugnant. They 698 00:37:55,880 --> 00:37:58,800 Speaker 1: walk that line. Well, the distance though of the vamp 699 00:37:58,880 --> 00:38:01,759 Speaker 1: cam makes it all sorts of adorable. Sure, like my 700 00:38:01,800 --> 00:38:04,600 Speaker 1: hand's nut in that cage with them, So that's so 701 00:38:04,719 --> 00:38:06,880 Speaker 1: cute that they're cuddling right now. And it's not full 702 00:38:06,880 --> 00:38:09,799 Speaker 1: color either, so it's got that going for it. So 703 00:38:09,880 --> 00:38:12,719 Speaker 1: there you go, the vampire bat, the evolution of the 704 00:38:12,800 --> 00:38:16,520 Speaker 1: vampire bat, the physiology of the fampire bat. I I 705 00:38:16,560 --> 00:38:19,800 Speaker 1: hope it it allows everyone to have even more respect 706 00:38:19,840 --> 00:38:23,719 Speaker 1: for these amazing creatures and just rethink the vampire equation 707 00:38:23,880 --> 00:38:28,640 Speaker 1: in general. Like it really made me rethink our ideas 708 00:38:28,680 --> 00:38:31,600 Speaker 1: of a vampiric human and what that would be like. 709 00:38:31,760 --> 00:38:34,319 Speaker 1: I feel like we focused, we focus far too much 710 00:38:34,480 --> 00:38:38,080 Speaker 1: on the supernatural aspects of of a humanoid vampire. We 711 00:38:38,120 --> 00:38:41,160 Speaker 1: focus on the viral aspects of like vamp vampirism as 712 00:38:41,160 --> 00:38:44,200 Speaker 1: a disease in these fantasy and scenarios, and of course 713 00:38:44,200 --> 00:38:48,040 Speaker 1: we end up fantasizing and focusing on like the sexy 714 00:38:48,120 --> 00:38:52,120 Speaker 1: and alluring aspect of some sort of a fictional vampire, 715 00:38:52,440 --> 00:38:55,640 Speaker 1: whereas if we look to the biological example, if we 716 00:38:55,800 --> 00:38:59,879 Speaker 1: look to the vampire bat, it paints an entirely most 717 00:39:00,200 --> 00:39:04,200 Speaker 1: entirely different idea about what evampiric human would look like. 718 00:39:04,440 --> 00:39:07,319 Speaker 1: I think the closest we've come is the nos Ferato 719 00:39:07,360 --> 00:39:11,160 Speaker 1: of the classic film and some of the rehashes we've seen, 720 00:39:11,480 --> 00:39:15,480 Speaker 1: which is kind of like this withered figure. Um, not 721 00:39:15,600 --> 00:39:20,120 Speaker 1: this robust character wearing shades and a leather jacket and 722 00:39:20,239 --> 00:39:23,160 Speaker 1: like ruling the night. No, because even the vampire bat 723 00:39:23,200 --> 00:39:25,000 Speaker 1: does not rule the night. It knows it. I mean, 724 00:39:25,160 --> 00:39:28,040 Speaker 1: I'm I'm anthromorphizing here. It knows it doesn't rule the night. 725 00:39:28,640 --> 00:39:31,080 Speaker 1: It has to stick to the shadows as a conservative energy, 726 00:39:31,400 --> 00:39:35,360 Speaker 1: and it has to get the easiest, uh most filling 727 00:39:35,440 --> 00:39:39,120 Speaker 1: meal it can. So the idea of this slim, ghastly 728 00:39:39,239 --> 00:39:42,920 Speaker 1: corpse like nos Ferato, you know, reeling in the shadows 729 00:39:43,000 --> 00:39:45,600 Speaker 1: like that's that's I feel like that's the corporate we've 730 00:39:45,640 --> 00:39:48,319 Speaker 1: we've managed to get. I agree. I wish that Jim 731 00:39:48,400 --> 00:39:52,439 Speaker 1: Jarmus is a new movie. Only Lovers Left Alive would 732 00:39:52,480 --> 00:39:55,359 Speaker 1: have explored that idea, would you explored in a blog 733 00:39:55,440 --> 00:40:00,120 Speaker 1: post by way Um, So check that out af if 734 00:40:00,120 --> 00:40:05,120 Speaker 1: you want to kind of do some reimagining of Dracula 735 00:40:05,239 --> 00:40:07,480 Speaker 1: and popular Lure. Yeah, I do want to see Only 736 00:40:07,560 --> 00:40:09,839 Speaker 1: Lover's Left Alive. I didn't think that I would want 737 00:40:09,880 --> 00:40:12,279 Speaker 1: to see another vampire film, but that one looks pretty good. 738 00:40:12,360 --> 00:40:15,319 Speaker 1: Till the Swinton The Magical unicorn of a human is 739 00:40:15,320 --> 00:40:17,319 Speaker 1: in it, so you kind of I mean, I have 740 00:40:17,400 --> 00:40:20,040 Speaker 1: to see it just for that alone. Yeah, I want 741 00:40:20,080 --> 00:40:22,839 Speaker 1: to see that. I also want to see Neil Jordan's Byzantium, 742 00:40:22,840 --> 00:40:25,480 Speaker 1: which sounds in like, on the surface, it sounds like 743 00:40:25,520 --> 00:40:28,960 Speaker 1: just another scenario of like to two vampires, like a 744 00:40:28,960 --> 00:40:31,759 Speaker 1: mother and a daughter vampire and they they're, you know, 745 00:40:31,800 --> 00:40:34,719 Speaker 1: trying to find their way in a world of vampires 746 00:40:35,120 --> 00:40:38,360 Speaker 1: living in the shadows. But it's it's misunderstanding each other. Yeah, 747 00:40:38,400 --> 00:40:40,359 Speaker 1: but it's her mother daughter, but it's it sounds more 748 00:40:40,400 --> 00:40:44,040 Speaker 1: interesting because it's like strong, supposedly strong female characters based 749 00:40:44,040 --> 00:40:46,600 Speaker 1: on a play by a female play right, So there's 750 00:40:46,640 --> 00:40:49,160 Speaker 1: there's something about that that I want to give that 751 00:40:49,200 --> 00:40:51,520 Speaker 1: one a shot as well. All right, So what about 752 00:40:51,719 --> 00:40:53,759 Speaker 1: you guys and gals out there, what do you think 753 00:40:53,800 --> 00:40:56,600 Speaker 1: about the science of a vampire bat the physiology and 754 00:40:56,600 --> 00:40:59,400 Speaker 1: evolution of vampire bat um. How does that make you 755 00:40:59,440 --> 00:41:02,759 Speaker 1: rethink these curious creatures? How does it make you rethink 756 00:41:03,600 --> 00:41:06,759 Speaker 1: the myth of the vampire as it exists in folklore 757 00:41:06,800 --> 00:41:10,000 Speaker 1: and in popular culture. Um, we'd love to hear from you, 758 00:41:10,040 --> 00:41:12,160 Speaker 1: and you can find us at all the normal places 759 00:41:12,600 --> 00:41:14,839 Speaker 1: there is, of course, Stuff to Blow your Mind dot com. 760 00:41:14,880 --> 00:41:17,080 Speaker 1: That's the mothership that should be your your first stop 761 00:41:17,480 --> 00:41:20,200 Speaker 1: when you think yourself, I wonder what those guys are 762 00:41:20,320 --> 00:41:21,960 Speaker 1: up to? Well, go to Stuff to Blow your Mind 763 00:41:21,960 --> 00:41:24,480 Speaker 1: dot com. That's where we will get the full dosage 764 00:41:24,640 --> 00:41:28,360 Speaker 1: of all of our activities, including our blog posts, are podcasts, 765 00:41:28,400 --> 00:41:31,280 Speaker 1: our videos, links out to our various social media accounts 766 00:41:31,280 --> 00:41:35,520 Speaker 1: such as Facebook, Twitter, Tumbler, Google plus, um, our YouTube 767 00:41:35,520 --> 00:41:38,200 Speaker 1: account which is mind Stuff Show. If you haven't followed 768 00:41:38,239 --> 00:41:40,399 Speaker 1: us there, if you're a regular YouTube user, go there 769 00:41:40,440 --> 00:41:42,759 Speaker 1: and give us a follow. Let's check out some of 770 00:41:42,760 --> 00:41:45,799 Speaker 1: our videos there. We have a number of cool new 771 00:41:45,840 --> 00:41:49,240 Speaker 1: projects that we're pushing out in the weeks ahead. Indeed, 772 00:41:49,280 --> 00:41:50,960 Speaker 1: and if you would like to get in touch with 773 00:41:51,040 --> 00:41:53,120 Speaker 1: us in the meantime, you may do so a blow 774 00:41:53,160 --> 00:42:00,239 Speaker 1: the mind at Discovery dot com. For more on MISS 775 00:42:00,320 --> 00:42:03,200 Speaker 1: and thousands of other topics, visit how staff works dot com. 776 00:42:09,360 --> 00:42:09,400 Speaker 1: H