New paper on giving intranasal oxytocin to vampire bats

Intranasal oxytocin increases social grooming and food sharing in the common vampire bat Desmodus rotundus I gave two groups of highly familiar captive vampire bats intranasal oxytocin. In the first group intranasal oxytocin led to larger regurgitated food donations. In the second group, I gave a larger dose and found that oxytocin also increased allogrooming between adult … Continue reading New paper on giving intranasal oxytocin to vampire bats

Vampires 101: An interview about vampire bats

I just spoke with a geologist who was fed on by a vampire bat while she slept outside just down the street from where I live. She found the small but bloody bite on her toe in the morning. In many years, vampire bats were almost never caught near Gamboa, Panama (where I live now) … Continue reading Vampires 101: An interview about vampire bats

Vampire bats are exceptional social groomers

Undergraduate Lauren Leffer and I just published a paper in PLOS One entitled Social Grooming in Bats: Are Vampire Bats Exceptional? The answer, I think, is yes. Here's the story behind the paper. When you think of social grooming, you think of primates. Social grooming in primates has been viewed as a social glue that helps maintain … Continue reading Vampire bats are exceptional social groomers