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Most people know that vampire bats form social bonds by grooming each other. But did you know that vampire bats French kiss to develop social relationships? Researchers said that vampire bats kiss each other while they share animal blood from mouth to mouth.
Many animals do strange things to form social bonds and strengthen them. The peculiar thing vampire bats do is they French kiss each other. Researchers discovered this social ritual is a way of sharing the blood in each other's mouths.
Do vampire bats really french kiss to bond?
When the vampire bats share their food, it is like how birds chew up and spit out their menu for their children. But the unique thing about when vampire bats do it is that they do it for adults, even those they did not bond with previously.
A team of researchers studied a group of vampire bats that comprised two separate roosts. The roosts came from different locales, so it is highly impossible they knew any members of the other roost.
When the two vampire bat roosts met each other, the researchers noted how they behaved for over a year. The bats first began with grooming whoever they were unfamiliar with, which is a social behaviour typical in many other species.
When the vampire bats bonded enough socially with their new social bonds, they started doing a new uncommon social ritual. The vampire bats French kiss, which is when they share blood meals.
It may come as a surprise to you, but almost fifteen per cent of the bats the researchers were studying were sharing their blood meals with a partner they did not know before the roosts merged.
Grooming each other and meal sharing are social rituals that provide a shared group of animals with benefits. The bats groom each other to eliminate parasites on each other's skin, which will ensure that disease does not spread.
When the bats share their meals, it is, so that group members do not become hungry to the point they starve. A vampire bat needs to nourish themselves with blood every three days.
What Makes It So Special?
The vampire bats went from strangers from distinct places to a single group that did their best to help each other. Researchers think the social rituals are not only for practical reasons. When the bats do not have parasites on their fur, they will still groom one another more than they need to for hygienic reasons.
The researchers thought of social grooming as if it were a give-and-take type of deal, which was a way for them to bond with and gain tolerance for each other. Animals behaving mutually beneficially with other animals in the same colony might be a strategy for the animals to test the waters of a potential mate or friend before they can fully commit to that relationship.
When you invest in a relationship with someone, you risk that they might not be the right partner. This leads to being worse off than you started if you did not get into a relationship with them. That is why after starting with grooming before the vampire bats French kiss to share their meals.
