I need to know the ecological niche or role of the vampire bat in the rainforest ecosystem AS WELL AS what the habitat of the vampire bat looks like and is made of what with what kind of animals are around its habitat. THANKS A LOT \i really appreciate it.
vampire bats are nocturnal animals that feed on blood meals from all animals. they can be vectors for diseases/viruses and can also benefit their prey by taking out excess iron or other minerals in the blood. they spend the day in tree trunks, under bushes or occasionally in caves, while they feed at night. animals in its habitat could be jungle cats, birds, primates, lizards or large mammals.
They live in Mexico, Central and South America. During the day, like most bat species, the colonies of vampire bats live in caves. They are nocturnal and feed solely on blood of sleeping cattle and horses, although there are recorded incidents of them feeding on sleeping humans too, but that is far less common.
They do not take enough blood to harm the host, and they secrete an anticoagulant in their saliva to help keep the blood from clotting from the bite of their razor-sharp fangs.
They are not necessarily in the rainforest, although they do like tropical climates. They are predators of a sort, but they do not kill the host. They are actually more like parasites that don’t do harm to the host. They are like huge mosquitoes in that sense, I guess. They need the blood of the host to live, but they don’t take enough to weaken or kill. Most cattle and horses sleep right through the ‘feeding’.
However, in the scheme of things, it is figured that a colony of 100 vampire bats can drink the equivalent of the blood of 20 cows in a year.
Nice little guys, right? Bats actually do provide services such as fertilizing of plants and the eating of annoying insects, but this is the only parasitic species of bat.