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Desmodus rotundus
– Lower Risk Least Concern
Taxonomy
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Kingdom:
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ANIMALIA
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Phylum:
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CHORDATA
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Class:
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MAMMALIA
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Order:
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CHIROPTERA
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Family:
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PHYLLOSTOMIDAE
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Scientific Name:
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Desmodus rotundus
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Species Authority:
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(É. Geoffroy, 1810)
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Common Name/s:
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| English | — | COMMON VAMPIRE BAT, VAMPIRE BAT |
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Assessment Information
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Red List Category & Criteria:
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LR/lc ver 2.3 (1994)
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Year Assessed:
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1996
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Annotations:
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Needs updating
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Assessor/s:
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Chiroptera Specialist Group
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Geographic Range
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Range Description:
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D. rotundus ranges from northern Mexico through Central and South America to central Chile in the west and Uruguay in the east. It is perhaps absent from much of Amazonia at present, but that may change with changes in cattle distribution. Also on Isla Margarita off the northern coast of Venezuela and Trinidad, and formerly on Cuba and in Florida and northern California. It is one of three blood-feeding bat species, which together are currently regarded as the subfamily Desmodontinae of the family Phyllostomidae (Hutson et al. 2001).
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Countries:
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Native:
Argentina; Belize; Bolivia; Brazil; Chile; Colombia; Costa Rica; Ecuador; El Salvador; French Guiana; Guatemala; Honduras; Mexico; Nicaragua; Panama; Paraguay; Peru; Suriname; Trinidad and Tobago; Uruguay; Venezuela
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Habitat and Ecology
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Habitat and Ecology:
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The vampire bat is a medium-sized species (forearm 52-63 mm weight 25-40 g). Its blood-feeding habit is associated with many unique features of morphology, physiology and behaviour. This includes enhanced quadrupedal ability, dentition, length of reproductive cycle (nine months pregnancy, nine months lactation), mutual grooming and food sharing, and 'community' (cross-parental) support. The feeding behaviour also has its effect on the host animals, such as cattle, where losses per annum have been estimated in millions of US dollars, but accurate figures are hard to obtain. The populations of Desmodus are undoubtedly unnaturally high in many areas due to the artificially high density of cattle (Hutson et al. 2001).
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System:
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Terrestrial
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Threats
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Threats:
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It is not considered that this species is in itself threatened, even by concerted vampire bat control programmes, but those control programmes can have considerable impact on bats and other species using caves. It has been stated that one control programme in Venezuela resulted in the destruction of 40,000 caves, resulting in the loss of large populations of harmless or beneficial bats as well as other cave fauna. Recent incidents of vampire bats attacking humans in Peru, Brazil and El Salvador have attracted world-wide press interest and resulted in wide-scale eradication programmes. Control methods have included burning and gassing of potential roosts, as well as the dynamiting of roosts. The concern for bat conservation with respect to vampire bats is primarily in the negative publicity for all bats arising from vampire-related problems and the unreasoned response resulting from rabies outbreaks in cattle or the incidence of vampire bat attacks on humans (Hutson et al. 2001).
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Conservation Actions
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Conservation Actions:
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Action that could be considered in the current context would be the efforts that have been made to develop more targeted non-chemical methods for the control of vampire bats and to develop immunization techniques, involving oral vaccines, for the localised control of rabies in vampire bats. Other initiatives have included education programmes, such as a video programme developed by Bat Conservation International in the United States, and a range of other educational and training efforts that have been attempted locally and occasionally nationally.
The 11th International Bat Research Conference, held in Brazil in August 1998, included a symposium on vampire bats (their management and associated conservation issues). Attended by bat researchers, public health and veterinary officers, the meeting developed a Resolution (see Hutson et al. 2001 for details).
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