Is the life span of a vampire bat longer than other species of bat?

Answer 1

No: a vampire bat can live up to 9 years in the wild or 20 years in captivity; the North American common little brown bat can live for up to 33 years, though their average lifespan is much shorter since 50% of them do not survive their first year. http://www.wonderclub.com/Wildlife/mammals/vampirebat.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_brown_bat http://www.hsus.org/wildlife/a_closer_look_at_wildlife/bats/bat_facts.html

Answer 2

Vampire bats tend to live in colonies that can number in the thousands, and only survive about two days without a meal of blood, yet they cannot be guaranteed of finding food every night.

This poses a problem, so when a bat fails to find food it will often "beg" to another bat for food. The "host" bat may regurgitate a small amount of blood to sustain the other member of the colony. This has been noted by many naturalists as an example of reciprocal altruism in nature.

A typical female vampire bat weighs 40 grams and can consume over 20 grams (1 fluid ounce) of blood in a 20-minute feed. This feeding behaviour is facilitated by its anatomy and physiology for rapid processing and digestion of the blood to enable the animal to take flight soon after the feeding.

The stomach lining rapidly absorbs the blood plasma, which is quickly transported to the kidneys from where it passes to the bladder for excretion. A common vampire bat begins to expel urine within two minutes of feeding.

Vampire Bats have a lifespan of approximately 9 years in the wild, and have been know to live for as many as 20 years in captivity.

While vampires are ageless, immortal creatures, who can only be affected my certain myth-ed symbolic relics, such as: Garlic, Stakes/maybe only Wooden Stakes, and the famed Holy-Cross. It remains that a vampire can outlive any non-immortal creature, if its life is not infringed upon by one of these relics.

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