Making Friends, The Vampire Bat Way
Vampire bats aren’t so different from humans in some ways. These long-lived and extremely social bats form close social relationships – bonds that in humans, we’d call friendships. However, vampire bat friendships are characterized by mutual tongue baths and regurgitated blood. Now, research shows how these friendships form. In a study published today, scientists report that vampire bats gradually build trust through social grooming. The results support a model of how cooperative relationships form that could also apply to human friendships.
Read the whole story at National Geographic: How Vampire Bat Friendship is Surprisingly Like Our Own.
Vampire Bat Friendships
Mutual grooming and blood regurgitation form the basis of vampire bat friendships, which can last for years. And new research shows that relationships forged in captivity can persist once bats are back in the wild.
Read my latest Animal Minds post: Vampire Bat Friendships Persist from the Lab to the Wild.