How do vampire bats suck blood?

A recent study showed that vampire bats use heat sensors near the nose that are extremely sensitive to heat to detect blood sources.

By analyzing genetics and expression of heat-sensing organs (receptors) in the nose of fruit bats and vampire bats, researchers discovered heat receptors of vampire bats in the nose and mouth. Its different from fruit bat. They sense the change of heat through a special hole in the face, which has many connections with their brains.

Vampire bat uses heat receptors near the nose to find blood.

The heat receptor of vampire bats has more sensitive elements, due to changes in its structure. These changes come from an intermediate step in protein production, rather than mutant genetic changes, allowing bats to still express their normal senses in the rest of the body.

"Vampire bats have changed the structure of some parts, allowing it to receive heat signals in blood-circulating bodies ," researchers David Julius of the University of California, San Francisco told LiveScience .

Special heat sensors allow vampire bats to distinguish between areas of the skin including delicious, hot, moist blood vessels, and protected fur areas. Later, it used razor-sharp teeth to bite a square of about 0.2 inches (5mm) wide in the skin and sucked blood without waking the sleeping prey.

Most animals perceive heat in very similar ways: receptors detect higher temperatures primarily through contact.

There are more heat-sensitive elements like vampire bats that have never been found in mammals, except in a few snakes.