Head to head
Fringe-lipped Bat vs Common Vampire Bat
Fringe-lipped Bat
VS Common Vampire Bat
The fringe-lipped bat and common vampire bat are both unusual predators of the American tropics, but one hunts frogs by ear and the other lives entirely on blood.
| Fringe-lipped Bat | Common Vampire Bat | |
|---|---|---|
| Scientific name | Trachops cirrhosus | Desmodus rotundus |
| Diet | Carnivore, eating frogs, large insects, lizards, and small mammals | Blood only, mainly from cattle, horses, pigs, and large birds |
| Finding prey | Listens for the mating calls of calling male frogs | Infrared-sensing pits around the nose locate blood vessels close to the skin |
| Social behaviour | Can learn to tell the calls of edible frogs from those of poisonous toads, including by watching other bats | Well-fed bats regurgitate blood to roost-mates that failed to feed |
| Distinctive feature | Small wart-like bumps and a fringe along its lips and chin | Saliva protein that keeps blood flowing, which led to a derived drug being trialled for stroke |
| Range | Tropical forest from southern Mexico through Central America to northern South America | Tropics and subtropics of the Americas, from northern Mexico to central Chile, Argentina, and Uruguay |
| Survival limit | Not specifically documented | Can die after just two or three nights without a blood meal |
| Conservation status | Least Concern, with a stable population | Least Concern, with an increasing population |
Fringe-lipped Bat vs Common Vampire Bat: common questions
Which bat drinks blood?
The common vampire bat, the only mammal that feeds entirely on blood, while the fringe-lipped bat eats frogs, insects, lizards, and small mammals.
How does the fringe-lipped bat find frogs?
It listens for the mating calls of calling male frogs and flies in to seize them.
Where do the fringe-lipped bat and vampire bat live?
The fringe-lipped bat lives in tropical forest from southern Mexico to northern South America, while the common vampire bat lives across the tropics and subtropics of the Americas as far south as central Chile, Argentina, and Uruguay.