If you've ever thought to yourself, "Gee I sure would like to see some vampire bats on treadmills," then do we have the science for you. That's exactly what a team of scientists has done, and it's not because little Vladi needed to get his chiropteran steps in.
Rather, the new research reveals how vampire bats (Desmodus rotundus) make the most out of their primary food source – the blood they slurp from the mammals on which they feed.
Fascinatingly, the results show an aptitude for the metabolism of the amino acids in the blood they eat. And, moreover, it doesn't take them long to do so. A vampire bat can gallop merrily along, fuelled by a meal of blood consumed only minutes before.
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The isotopes revealed the production of CO2 from the metabolization of amino acids was almost immediately present in the breath of bats on the treadmill. This suggests that the animals were rapidly and efficiently making use of their recent protein meals, unlike insects such as mosquitoes which take longer to metabolize the amino acids in the blood on which they feed.