Brazilian bat blood lust people

recife - It is left longer a myth, the draculaatjes among us. Scientists from the University of Pernambuco discovered in the Brazilian city of Recife that the rough-legged vampire (Diphylla Ecaudata) human blood lust. They examined the feces of a bat colony in the national park Catimbau. Fifteen of the seventy samples they were able to extract DNA, in three cases appeared human origin.

'We were stunned,' said team leader Enrico Bernard in the magazine New Scientist. 'This species is, after all, not adapted to feed on the blood of mammals. 'The 'suction animals' push for a high-fat diet in large fowl as the goean and the Tinamou, but this prey is more seriously threatened by deforestation and hunting.

In previous experiments, the bats got their noses at pigs and goats. They starved rather than the protein-rich blood to drink these beasts. The rough-legged vampire evidence now still be able to get used to a different menu. DNA testing revealed that they also bite people except farm chickens. The discovery is remarkable but also worrisome because of the possible transmission of rabies or any dangerous hantavirus.