"How Bats Work" Bats really stand out in the animal world. They are the only mammals that can fly, and they live much of their lives hanging upside down. Most species are only active at night, dusk and dawn, spending their days in dark caves. Helping us. Digital bat receiver / bat detector. Bats - Ultrasound. How vampire bats find blood - Technology & Science. How vampire bats know precisely where to bite to strike a blood-spurting vein close to the skin has always been a mystery — until now.
A team of American and Venezuelan scientists studying wild vampire bats in South America has discovered a heat-sensing molecule called TRPV1 covering nerve endings on the bats' noses. The finding, published in this week's journal Nature, shows how small changes to a particular species' genes can lead to important evolutionary adaptations.