SCIENCE LAB SCREAMS : VAMPIRE BAT WORKOUT {2}

 

To conduct the research, Dr. Welch's colleague, Giulia Rossi, helped collect two dozen vampire bats in Belize.

The team then fed them cow blood from a local slaughterhouse. Then the bats were placed on a miniature treadmill.

As the bats sprinted, samples of their breath were used to measure the intake of oxygen and the expulsion of carbon dioxide. By analyzing the exhaled carbon dioxide, the scientists could pinpoint traces of the amino acids from the blood the bats had ingested.

The breakdown of both glycine and leucine from the treated blood samples was responsible for as much as 60 percent of the total energy production during the bats' runs, showing they can turn amino acids into usable energy very quickly. [ Jack Tamisiea ]