White-winged vampire bat

The white-winged vampire bat (Diaemus youngi) is a rare New World leaf-nosed bat of the family Phyllostomidae and one of three vampire bat species. It has been recorded across tropical South America and north into Costa Rica, Belize and Mexico, and it is found in moist tropical and dry forests, roosting in caves, tree hollows and at the edges of banana plantations. Adults are about 85 millimetres long without an external tail and weigh roughly 35 to 45 grams, with a shiny clay to cinnamon brown coat and white wing edges. It is the only bat known to have 22 permanent teeth. It is nocturnal, roosts in small groups and feeds mostly on the blood of birds, including free-ranging poultry, by licking the foot of a perched victim and using anticoagulants in its saliva. For this reason it is treated as a pest and a possible carrier of rabies. The only lifespan record comes from captivity, where it can live 20 years, and the IUCN lists it as Least Concern although its populations are poorly known.