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STORY: :: Vampire bats on treadmills are studied to show they use blood for energy:: Toronto, Canada :: University of Toronto:: File:: November 7, 2024 :: Dr Giulia Rossi, Postdoctoral Fellow at McMaster University "So blood is the only thing they eat. So we didn't have to worry that maybe they'd eaten some fruit earlier in the day, that's not part of their diet. So they would have exclusively eaten blood the night that they were caught.":: Unlike most mammals, vampire bats burn amino acids from blood almost immediately"In terms of humans living on an entirely protein diet, these bats have evolved for millions of years to feed exclusively on blood. So they are really good at what they do. And we know that they have special adaptations at the various levels of biological organization, in their intestines, like all throughout their body that help them use exclusively or feed on exclusively blood.":: Brazilia, Brazil:: File Researchers found the common vampire bat (Desmodus rotundus), which primarily preys on mammals, can achieve this unique metabolic process thanks to the protein-rich blood meals it consumes.The researchers used a special bat-sized respirometry treadmill to monitor the bats' oxygen consumption and CO2 production. Researchers fed the bats with cows’ blood enriched with special isotopes to track the amino acids once exhaled. The findings suggest that vampire bats are likely burning amino acids to power their flight, in addition to their running. The study could contribute to our understanding of metabolic processes and dietary adaptations in other species.
