Bloodthirsty vampire bats prefer sharing drink with friends, finds study

Nothing like a good drink with a buddy eh? Life's worries can take a hike while we vibe with those who matter. Why not extend the same logic to bloodthirsty, blood-sucking vampire bats? So what if vampire bats feast on blood? To each their own right?

Agreed this question sounds fine only when restricted to vampire bats and not other animals (don't 'Hammer' your memory too much on this).

But from scientific point of view, it is indeed fascinating that vampire bats form social bonds that come into play when they obtain their food.

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Researchers have now found that vampire bats are more likely to share 'drink' with their friends than strangers. Vampire bats form long-term social bonds between them. But it was unclear before now whether these bonds came into play when they hunted.

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Gerald Carter, an evolutionary biologist from Ohio State University in Columbus and Simon Ripperger of the Museum für Naturkunde in Berlin built on a previous research to come to this conclusion.

The previous research involved study of 50 female bats with tiny computers glued to their backs. This way their movements were tracked.

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Carter and Ripperger found that though 'buddy' bats did not necessarily leave for a hunt together, if they bumped into each in the wild when one of them was feeding, it was likely that they shared the food. The likelihood of a bat sharing its food with a 'stranger' bat was found to be less.

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It is possible that this is a survival mechanism that has merged itself with evolution. For a vampire bat on a hunt, opening a fresh wound takes considerable time. But if a friend is already feeding and is willing to share, this save energy of the bat thus making it available for other functions.

The fascinating observations have been published in the journal PLOS Biology.