Most people have an image of vampire bats as large, fearsome creatures who thirst for blood and can drain a grown man dry.
But the vampire bats on display at Connecticut's Beardsley Zoo seemed neither fearsome nor bloodthirsty as they huddled in a corner of their new home at the zoo's rainforest exhibit last week. And, at 3 inches in length with a 6 to 7 inch wingspan and a weight of roughly 25 grams, the creatures are surprisingly tiny.
Since most people know little about vampire bats, they often assume the worst -- especially at this spooky time of year, said zoo director Gregg Dancho. "Vampire bats get a bad rap," he said.
He's hoping the zoo's new residents will change that. Beardsley received its nine vampire bats late Thursday afternoon, days before Halloween. The creatures come to Bridgeport from the Philadelphia Zoo, and are the first vampire bats to make their home at Beardsley. "We were looking for bats for the zoo," Dancho said. "We were hoping to get them in fall. It's nice to have them here around Halloween, because it's nice to have that connection. But, mainly, we wanted to get them here before it got too cold."
Since vampire bats are a first for the zoo, Dancho said he wanted only males to start with. That way, the staff can get used to the critters without having to worry about breeding them. In the meantime, Dancho said the zoo will likely use the bats for educational purposes. That includes teaching visitors about the different species of bats, as well as dispelling some rumors about the vampire bats. While it's true that the creatures do dine exclusively on blood, they typically feast on animals. Though they have been known to feed on humans, they don't take enough blood to harm their hosts.
The nocturnal beasts are native to South America and Dancho said they are an integral part of the rainforest. Their new home in Beardsley's rainforest exhibit has special lighting, designed to keep the creatures active during the day, when they would typically sleep. In daylight hours, their habitat is lit with a dark blue light that replicates nighttime. In the evening, their home is illuminated using a white light that mimics the rise and fall of the sun.
As for food, the zoo relies on a meatpacking plant in the state to provide the blood for the bats. The blood is put containers on the floor of the bats' habitat, and they are free to fly down and feast upon it. Other than that, the bats require little handling, said Elyse Pasquale, a zookeeper in the rainforest exhibit.
Pasquale said the bats haven't done too much flying around since their arrival and are probably still adapting to their new home. Indeed, Friday morning, only a few made hesitant swoops to the bottom of their cave-like habitat. Mostly, they hung from the top of their home -- a practice known as roosting. The bats also have been sticking close together since they got to Beardsley, Pasquale said. "They like to stay in a little clump," she said.
