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How Vampire Bats Evolved To Live On Blood Alone

Posted by samzenpus on from the I-vant-to-suck-your-blood dept.

New research has discovered some of the genetic changes that allowed vampire bats to live on a diet of pure blood. One of the bats' most important evolutionary traits is the ability to manipulate an anticoagulant protein in their blood and saliva. In humans similar proteins protect against heart attack by breaking up blood clots and clearing vessels.

8 of 82 comments (clear)

  1. Simple Really by eldavojohn · · Score: 5, Funny

    They just needed to pass the BAR exam.

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    1. Re:Simple Really by R2.0 · · Score: 5, Funny

      HEY - my wife's a lawyer! How dare you compare her to a bloodsucking...

      Nevermind.

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      "As God is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly." A. Carlson
  2. Let's do some REAL science. by snowraver1 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Who care? What we all really want to know is how Batman evolved from human to hero. Are the tights the key?

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    1. Re:Let's do some REAL science. by Drooling+Iguana · · Score: 5, Funny

      That, and a steady supply of underage circus performers.

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  3. Simple. by grub · · Score: 5, Funny


    "They live on blood because that's how God designed them!"
    Sarah Palin

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    1. Re:Simple. by R2.0 · · Score: 5, Funny

      I swear, half of Slashdot is secretly hoping McCain wins, because if he loses, they won't have anything to post.

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      "As God is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly." A. Carlson
  4. Re:What it should be. by reverseengineer · · Score: 5, Interesting

    The NY Times had an interesting story last week about creatures that dine on blood.

    Apparently, most obligate hematophages tend to be very small- insects and such, because blood is not an ideal source of nutrition. In particular, blood has almost no dietary fat, so a large hematophage like a vampire bat, "must consume the equivalent of half their one-ounce body weight in blood every night or risk starving to death."

    Also, apparently blood is about 95% water, and so to keep from gaining too much water weight, vampire bats "urinate freely as they feed." That's a detail that seems to be missing from most vampire movies.

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    "FDA staff reviewers expressed concern about the number of patients who were left out of the study because they died."
  5. Re:What it should be. by R2.0 · · Score: 5, Funny

    "That's a detail that seems to be missing from most vampire movies."

    I'm sure Ann Rice covered watersports somewhere in her books.

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    "As God is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly." A. Carlson