Vampire Bats' Unique Blood Metabolism Unveiled on Treadmills

Scientists have conducted a study using treadmills to understand how vampire bats metabolize blood, revealing their unique ability to efficiently use amino acids for energy. Unlike most vertebrates that rely on carbohydrates and lipids, vampire bats rapidly metabolize protein-rich blood, a trait shared with some invertebrates like Tsetse flies. The research, involving bats fed with amino acid-enriched blood, highlights convergent evolution in blood-feeding animals and was published in Biology Letters.