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Thursday, October 29, 2009
Blood Suckers in E. Mountains
By Lee Ross
Mountain View Telegraph
There are at least 18 blood-sucking vampires in the East Mountains.
Daniel Abram keeps a group of white-winged vampire bats, each of them about the size of a small mouse.
The bats go along with the somewhat playful, yet ghoulish side of Abram. He is tall, thin, wears a goatee and pulls his hair back into a neat ponytail. Halloween is his favorite holiday, so much so that he and his fiance, Jennifer Mastripolito, plan to tie the knot this weekend on the notoriously spooky day.
"I love ghoulish," he said. "I'm a little bit of a freak ... I found a woman who shares my principles."
The tiny bats have tiny, razor-sharp teeth. While the common vampire bat can drink cow's blood — they are considered a nuisance in their home territory of Central and South America — the white winged vampire bats only feed on birds.
For Abram's bats, a group of chickens are brought in with the bats every night, one chicken per bat. When the sun sets and the chickens go to sleep, the vampires come out to feed.
Rather than some morbid, violent task, Abram — who made a recording of the nightly ritual — said the bats are actually quite gentle. They flit around the bird, licking its feet. After some time of "courting" the birds, as he called it, they bite the foot and lick the wound.
Their saliva is an anti-coagulant, which means the blood will continue to flow.
Each chicken only spends about one night a week with the bats, so they will stay healthy, he said.
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