Head to head
Hammerhead Bat vs Common Vampire Bat
Hammerhead Bat
VS Common Vampire Bat
The hammerhead bat and the vampire bat are both unusual African and American bats, but each is famous for a completely different extreme adaptation, one for a dramatically oversized male head, the other for an entire diet built on nothing but blood.
| Hammerhead Bat | Common Vampire Bat | |
|---|---|---|
| Scientific name | Hypsignathus monstrosus | Desmodus rotundus |
| Diet | Herbivore, mainly fruit | Carnivore, blood only |
| Signature feature | An oversized male head and voice box | Ground agility and anticoagulant saliva |
| Movement style | Typical bat flight | Uniquely agile on the ground, can walk and run |
| Sexual dimorphism | Dramatic difference in male and female head size | No notable difference in appearance |
| Danger to humans | Harmless | Minor blood loss risk, a rabies reservoir |
| Native range | Central Africa | The tropics and subtropics of the Americas |
| Conservation status | Least Concern | Least Concern |
Hammerhead Bat vs Vampire Bat: common questions
Which bat drinks blood, the hammerhead bat or the vampire bat?
The vampire bat, which is the only mammal that feeds entirely on blood; the hammerhead bat instead eats fruit, particularly figs.
Which bat has a distinctively enlarged head?
The male hammerhead bat, whose strikingly oversized, box-shaped head houses an enlarged voice box used for loud courtship calls, a feature the vampire bat does not share.
Can either of these bats walk on the ground?
The vampire bat is uniquely agile on the ground among bats, able to walk and even run using its wings as front limbs, while the hammerhead bat is not known for this kind of ground movement.