Common vampire
| Common vampire | ||||||||||||
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Common Vampire ( Desmodus rotundus ) |
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| Desmode | ||||||||||||
| Wied-Neuwied , 1826 | ||||||||||||
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| Desmodus rotundus | ||||||||||||
| ( E. Geoffroy , 1810) |
The common vampire ( Desmodus rotundus ) is a species of bat that lives on the American continent . This species is the best known - and also the best researched - of the three species of vampire bats (Desmodontinae), the only mammal group that feeds exclusively on the blood of other animals. Common vampires are feared as carriers of diseases such as rabies to livestock and humans . At the same time, an anticoagulant enzyme in their saliva provides important impulses for medical research.
description
Build and dimensions
Common vampires are medium-sized bats: they reach a head body length of 70 to 90 millimeters and a weight of 15 to 50 grams. The forearm length, an important size specification for bats, is between 50 and 63 millimeters and the wingspan between 35 and 40 centimeters. In terms of physique, the common vampire largely corresponds to that of the other bats: the flight membrane consists of two layers of skin and extends from the wrists to the ankles, and is stretched by the greatly elongated fingers of the forelegs. Further flight membranes extend from the shoulders to the wrist and between the legs. The latter is called uropatagium and is used to catch insects in many bat species. Since this function does not apply to the common vampire, it is small and hairless in this species. There is no tail. In contrast to many other bat species, the hind legs are strong and muscular and allow the animals to crawl forward quickly on the ground, among other things. Vampire bats can also hop (see Lokomotion). The fur of these animals is gray-brown on the upper side, the underside is a little lighter.
The common vampire differs from the other vampire bat species by the elongated thumbs, the lack of hair on the uropatagium, the more pointed ears and the number of teeth.
Face and teeth
The common vampire's muzzle is short and conical in shape. In contrast to many other leaf noses, it does not have a real nasal blade, but a horseshoe-shaped pad over the nostrils. The ears are pointed and rather small and contain a small lanceolate tragus (ear cover). The eyes, on the other hand, are relatively large for bat conditions.
The common vampire has the fewest teeth of the vampire bats at 20, his tooth formula is 1 / 2-1 / 1-2 / 3-0 / 0 x2. The incisors and canines are the largest , they are sickle-shaped and adapted to the cutting of the skin of their victims. The molars have receded and no longer have a surface suitable for chewing. There are two grooves on the underside of the tongue that contract and expand during the meal. Further adaptations to the special diet are the short esophagus and the tubular stomach .
Locomotion
Certain adaptations in the physique and movement behavior of the common vampire are described by experts as "spectacular". For example, Desmodus rotundus can stand on the ground with the flight skins folded and also perform a kind of jumping-jumping movement. The animals walk on their extremely elongated "thumb" (1st finger). These bats are also able to jump “into flight” at lightning speed, even if they have eaten a meal of blood and thereby increased their body weight considerably. After all, they are able to land on the ground from flight and immediately come to a standstill. The common vampire has species-specific features in the skeletal and muscular anatomy, such as particularly strong front extremities (in the form of the folded flight membranes), which make such achievements possible.These adaptations enable these vampire bats to be on the ground in addition to a large prey (cattle, horse) land and approach it while walking; During the feeding process, Desmodus can follow slow movements of the prey or react lightning-fast to defensive movements.
distribution and habitat
Common vampires live on the American continent , their distribution area ranges from northern Mexico to southern South America ( central Chile , Argentina and Uruguay ). They can also be found on some islands off South America (such as Margarita and Trinidad ), but are absent on the other West Indies . They inhabit both wet and dry areas of the tropics and subtropics, including forests, open grasslands and mountain regions up to an altitude of 2,400 m .
The only zoo in Germany that keeps common vampires is the Zoological Garden in Berlin.
Way of life
Activity times and group life
Common vampires are exclusively nocturnal; they primarily use caves as sleeping quarters, but they can also be found in hollow trees, mines and shafts as well as in abandoned buildings. Vampire bats' resting places often smell strongly of ammonia because of the choked up blood .
These animals live in groups of 20 to 100 animals, and occasionally they also form colonies of up to 2000 animals. These groups break up into harem groups, which consist of 8 to 20 females and their offspring as well as a male who is in their vicinity. Other males form bachelorette groups. Male animals try again and again to dispute the harem leader's rank, in which case wild fights can ensue. The fights can also be accompanied by aggressive noises.
Sensory functions and orientation
When orienting themselves, vampire bats display similar skills and abilities as related bat species; However, research has uncovered characteristic features that can be interpreted as a specific adaptation to the blood-guzzling (sanguivore) diet.
The echolocation in Desmodus is similar to that of other species from the leaf-nosed bat family (Phyllostomatidae) and can be regarded as rather unspecialized. The ultrasonic locating sounds are emitted through the mouth; they have two intense harmonics (overtones) that cover a total frequency range between approx. 43 and 100 kilohertz (kHz). At rest, the intensity of the sounds is only low (max. 84 dB SPL , 10 cm in front of the bat's mouth), while in flight the sound intensity increases to up to 120 dB. Depending on the situation, the sound duration varies between 1 and 0.4 milliseconds (ms). In flight, the sounds are emitted during the wing upstroke.
The sense of smell is well developed in Desmodus. For some fragrances, the olfactory performance is in the range of the olfactory sensitivity of humans. Research suggests that vampires use their sense of smell particularly when making contact in a social group and possibly also when locating and identifying individual prey.
The sense of sight is excellently developed in Desmodus, as studies on visual acuity (depending on the illuminance ), the size of the field of view and the speed resolution show. Desmodus is also able to distinguish visual patterns. The research results suggest that Desmodus uses the visual sense when flying outdoors, both over a greater distance to identify natural landmarks (such as the silhouettes of trees or rocks) and at shorter distances, for example in the vicinity of the roosts. At distances of less than half a meter, these bats then seem to rely primarily on echolocation .
Specific adaptations to the blood-eating diet have developed in these vampire bats in particular in two sensory systems: on the one hand in the hearing (passive acoustic orientation), on the other hand in the sense of touch and warmth .
The hearing of Desmodus rotundus is particularly sensitive in the ultrasound range between 50 and 100 kilohertz (the range of its own echolocation) and in a frequency band between 10 and 30 kHz. As electrophysiological studies have shown, Desmodus has unusually low hearing thresholds below 25 kHz compared to many other bats, i.e. very good hearing ability. In addition, the researchers found nerve cells in the brain of the vampire bat that only responded to " noise " (broadband sound frequencies), as well as neurons that only responded to (human) breath sounds. These and other research results suggest that vampires can use their extremely powerful hearing very well to track down prey based on the sounds of their breath or the smallest of movements.
When actually choosing the bite site, however, Desmodus's sense of warmth is of central importance. Compared to other bat species, it is exceptionally powerful and enables the animals to perceive the thermal radiation emanating from the tissue with blood supply from a distance of more than 10 centimeters. Further studies have shown that a large number of cold and warm receptors (so-called free nerve endings) are concentrated in the central part of the nasal attachment (the "nasal blade") of Desmodus (see figure) , especially in the thin edge and the middle ridge of the Nasal sheet. Compared to other mammals (e.g. rodents ), the range of activity of the warm receptors is clearly shifted to lower temperatures. Previously, similar properties and performances were only known from certain types of snakes . The central facial region of Desmodus therefore forms a veritable warmth sense organ .
Desodus also wears numerous sensory hairs around this nasal blade , the mechanoreceptors of which respond very sensitively and depending on the direction to the tiniest movement stimuli. The sense of touch obviously plays an important role during the actual feeding process: Since the bat has direct physical contact with the mostly much larger prey, it is endangered by possible defensive movements. The sensitive sense of touch helps the animals to react quickly in such situations.
Social behavior
Common vampires have highly developed social behavior . This includes mutual grooming, a rather unusual behavior among bats; in addition, they often share their blood food with their hungry conspecifics by choking them up and feeding them to other animals.
A common vampire dies if he does not eat any food for two or three consecutive nights. However, between 7 and 30% of the animals in a group fail in their search for food in one night, be it due to illness, injury, childbirth or simple failure. Due to the urgent need for blood and the difficulty of finding prey, choking and sharing food plays an important role in the survival of the common vampires. Without sharing the food, the annual death rate of the animals would be 82%, but in fact it is 24%.
When an animal performs an act that is “selfless” by human standards, this is either done for the benefit of its relatives, especially the offspring, or for the benefit of itself, so that it is also helped accordingly, so to speak. This is known as reciprocal altruism . The common vampire's blood-splitting is an example of this. It is estimated that a hungry animal gains 18 hours to starvation by donating food, while the donor only loses around 6 hours. In total, both animals benefit from this behavior.
Apart from caring for your own offspring, which is absolutely common in the animal kingdom, the question of whether a vampire is ready to share also depends on the likelihood of getting this performance back one day, or on the fact whether the petitioning animal is earlier has already shared with the now begged. The prerequisite for this is that the animals recognize each other individually. The mutual grooming is likely to play an important role in identifying the individual conspecifics. If a hungry animal grooms another's fur, the begged conspecifics can identify it and recognize whether it has already divided itself. One of the decisive factors for reciprocal altruism seems to be that Desmodus females form very stable groups in which the individual individuals stay together for a very long time, possibly for life.
Vocal expressions play an important role in the social life of vampires. With appropriate examinations. a total of 16 clearly distinguishable sounds could be identified. Most of them have a high frequency component in the human hearing range (i.e. below approx. 16 kilohertz). Individual types of sounds can be assigned to specific situations or functions within the framework of the social behavior of the animals: There are sounds with an aggressive character, threats, combat and defense sounds, as well as liberation, protest, contact and appeasement sounds. Certain sounds have structural similarities with the so-called abandonment sounds of young animals and may have developed directly from them.
nutrition
Prey animals
In principle, any animal can be a victim of a vampire bite. The common vampire mainly uses mammals as hosts , mainly cattle , horses and donkeys as well as a number of larger wild animals such as tapirs . People are less often part of their blood sources. Larger birds such as chickens and turkeys are also bitten. Dogs rarely count as victims, presumably because they can hear the ultrasound sounds that the animals send out for orientation.
Experiments with captured animals have shown that they also bite snakes , lizards , toads , crocodiles, and turtles . It is not known whether these animals are among their victims in nature.
Approaching the victim
The animals usually do not land directly on their victims, but rather close by and then run or hop in their direction. The strong hind legs and the long thumb are adaptations to this mode of locomotion.
First of all, the bat looks for a suitable place to bite its victim, for example in cattle or horses directly above the hooves. Des Modus's movements when approaching prey are shy and cautious; the ability to hop, which is rare among bats, is used for quick evasion in the event that they are discovered and chased away by the victim with kicks or tail strokes. Vampires do not fight with their prey, their bite usually goes unnoticed and often the sleeping animal does not even wake up. They prefer body parts that are not covered by hair or feathers, such as the anal and vaginal regions or the ears of mammals or the legs or crests of birds, as bite sites .
The eating process
First the part of the body is licked with the tongue. The saliva of the animals contains an anesthetic that makes the bite site locally insensitive. Any hair or feathers that may be present are then shaved off with the teeth. With the sharp cutting surfaces of the canines and incisors, they bite out a piece of skin. The resulting wound is around three to ten millimeters wide and one to five millimeters deep. They use their tongues to lick up the blood flowing out and pump it into their mouths through the grooves on the underside of the tongue. An anticoagulant ensures that the blood that escapes does not clot during the drinking process and thus becomes unusable for the animal. The enzyme responsible for this is called Desmoteplase , also called Draculin or Desmodus rotundus Salivary Plasminogen Activator (DSPA for short); it is a glycoprotein and causes fibrin (the solid builder in clotting blood) to dissolve. After a bite, blood can flow out of the wound for up to eight hours.
The entire process can take up to two hours, the actual food intake up to 30 minutes. The animals ingest around 20 to 30 milliliters of blood, an amount that almost doubles the weight of the animals. This often makes it difficult for them to get back into the air. After a meal, they go to their sleeping place to digest.
Dangers of the bite
The loss of blood from the victim is a minor problem. The dangers of infectious diseases transmitted by animals, particularly rabies and trypanosome- borne cattle diseases, are much greater . In addition, infections and infestation by larvae of the New World screwworm fly ( Cochliomyia hominivorax ) can occur on the open wound . Thousands of animals die every year as a result of vampire bites and people are harmed again and again.
Reproduction
The reproductive behavior of Desmodus differs in some respects from that of other, also closely related bat species.
In principle, vampire bats can reproduce all year round. In most of the regions of their distribution area, however, birth peaks occur once or twice a year. In Costa Rica , for example, most births fall in the rainy season (October to November), in Trinidad and Tobago there is a peak from April to May and a second from October to November.
To initiate mating, the male climbs onto the back of the female, wraps its wings in its flight membrane, and bites its neck. After a gestation period of around seven months , a single young is usually born. Newborns are well developed and weigh between five and seven grams. In the first month of life they are exclusively suckled; from the second month of life onwards, the mother also feeds them with choked blood. From the fourth month the young animal begins to accompany its mother on prey flights; However, it is not finally weaned until nine or ten months old. Sexual maturity occurs around the same age .
If the young animals are separated from their mother, they emit so-called abandonment sounds. These sounds are retained until the young animals finally become independent of their mother after about ten months. Studies have shown that these sounds have individually distinguishable characteristics that change only insignificantly in the course of juvenile development. This is a crucial prerequisite for the mother animals to be able to unequivocally identify their own young animals using these sounds.
Due to the long gestation period and the dependency of the young on their mother, the females can only give birth every nine to ten months, which limits the reproductive success. Like many other bats, the lifespan is quite long. Life expectancy in the wild is estimated at nine to twelve years; the highest known age of an animal in human care was 29 years.
Natural enemies
The few natural enemies of the common vampires include owls , birds of prey, and snakes . Compared to the latter, they use their special locomotor skills to get themselves to safety with quick jumps.
Common vampires and humans
The legendary figure vampire
Legends and myths of vampires , mythical figures who feed on blood and sometimes appear in bat or owl form , can be found in many cultures around the world. Often these sagas are older and, due to the geographical distance, cannot be influenced by the vampire bats, which are only recorded from America. The animals got their name from the legendary figure and not the other way around, as the earlier use of the word “vampire” for the figure as for the animals shows. For more information, see the lemma vampire bats .
Regardless of this, in Mayan mythology there was a bat-shaped monster called Camazotz that attacked humans and animals and drank their blood. It is unclear to what extent these notions of the common vampire or Desmodus draculae , an extinct, even larger species of vampire bats (see under systematics), are influenced.
Damage from vampire bites
The damage caused by the common vampire is enormous. Every year countless domestic animals and domestic animals fall victim to diseases that are transmitted through vampire bites. Domestic cattle in particular are at risk because they are available in large numbers and easily accessible in the pastures. It is estimated that these bats are responsible for up to 100,000 deaths in cattle each year from rabies and trypanosomal diseases such as surra . A study in 1988 estimated the annual economic loss arising therefrom, to 40 million US dollars .
Although humans are not among the preferred victims of the common vampire, they too often suffer deaths from diseases caused by the bites of these animals. In May 2004, up to 22 people died in Brazil from rabies that was transmitted by these animals.
Human threat
With the widespread introduction of cattle ranches and pastures in Central and South America, the numbers of the common vampire have increased. However, due to the dangers of disease transmission, attempts are being made in many places to exterminate the animals. Caves were blown up or fumigated. Since common vampires are visually difficult to distinguish from other bat species, many harmless fruit- or insectivorous animals were also affected, often to a greater extent than common vampires themselves. Other methods used against these bats are slow-acting poisons that target the The fur of captive animals is painted and the mutual grooming also kills the other residents of the quarter, weak poisons that are injected into the cattle, safety nets in front of stables and others. Despite all of this, the species is common and not one of the endangered species.
Importance for research
It has long been known that a component of the saliva of these animals inhibits blood clotting. Efforts have been made to isolate this enzyme since the 1980s, and a German-Mexican research team succeeded. This enzyme (called Desmodus rotundus Salivary Plasminogen Activator (DSPA) or Desmoteplase ) has been produced biotechnologically since the early 1990s . It should be used primarily as a drug against ischemic strokes , as it can also dissolve existing blood clots in the vascular system . A study with heart attack patients was successfully completed between 1990 and 1999 . Synthesized preparations that contain the enzyme suppress blood coagulation up to 20 times longer than conventional agents and, according to initial studies, they are also said to have an effect up to 150 times stronger. It was hoped that this remedy would expand the time window for treatment, which is currently three hours for ischemic cerebral infarction. In the phase III study , however, no improvement in clinical outcome could be demonstrated in ischemic cerebral infarction .
Systematics
Position within the bat system
The common vampire forms together with the comb-tooth vampire ( Diphylla ecaudata ) and the white-winged vampire ( Diaemus youngi ) the group of vampire bats (Desmodontinae), whereby the white-winged vampire is the closest relative of the common vampire. Vampire bats are classified as a subfamily of the leaf noses (Phyllostomidae), a group of bats that is rich in shape and restricted to the American continent. Phylogenetically , they form the sister taxon of all other leaf nose species.
Two extinct species of the genus Desmodus are also known:
- Desmodus stocki was slightly heavier than the common vampire and lived in the southern United States and Mexico . The species only became extinct around 3000 years ago.
- Desmodus draculae , also known as the "giant vampire", was larger than the common vampire, its wingspan is estimated at 60 to 75 centimeters. Fossil remains of this species from the Pleistocene era have been found in Mexico , Venezuela, and Brazil . Because of the (at least alleged) young age of the Maya finds and legends about Camazotz, a creature in the form of a giant vampire, cryptozoologists speculate that the species might even be alive or that it was only recently extinct. However, there is no evidence of this.
Tribal history
Apart from the two species mentioned above, no fossil ancestors of the vampire bats are known. The question of how this specialized diet came about can currently only be answered in a speculative manner. Two theories have been proposed for this:
- According to one theory, vampire bats developed from fruit-eating ancestors, the specially shaped incisors and canines were initially an adaptation to biting hard-shelled fruits.
- According to another theory, vampire bats evolved from insectivorous ancestors who specialized in ectoparasitic (skin-living) animals. Possibly the wounds the insects inflicted on their hosts attracted these ancestors.
Within the leaf noses there are both fruity and insectivorous species, so both ways are conceivable.
literature
- Klaus Richarz: Observing, recognizing and protecting bats. Kosmos, Stuttgart 2004, ISBN 3-440-09691-2 .
- Ronald M. Nowak: Walker's Mammals of the World. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore 1999, ISBN 0-8018-5789-9 .
- Uwe Schmidt: Vampire bats . Spektrum Verlag, Heidelberg 1995. ISBN 978-3-89432-176-5 .
- Dennis Turner: The Vampire Bat. A Field Study in Behavior and Ecology. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore 1975, ISBN 0-8018-1680-7 .
- Arthur M. Greenhall, Gerhard Joermann, Uwe Schmidt: Desmodus rotundus (PDF; 753 kB). In: Mammalian Species . 202, 1983.
- Arthur M. Greenhall, Uwe Schmidt: Natural History of Vampire Bats. CRC Press, Boca Raton 1988, ISBN 0-8493-6750-6 .
- Gerald S. Wilkinson: Food Sharing in Vampire Bats. (PDF; 919 kB) In: Scientific American. 262, 1990, pp. 76-82.
Individual evidence
- ^ JS Altenbach: Locomotion . In: Natural History of Vampire Bats . (Editors: AM Greenhall, U. Schmidt). CRC Press, Boca Raton 1988, p. 71.
- ^ JS Altenbach: The locomotiv morphology of the vampire bat, Desmodus rotundus . In: Spec. Publ. Soc. Mamm. 6, 1979, p. 1.
- ↑ DK Riskin, JW Hermanson: Biomechanics: Independent evolution of running in vampire bats. In: Nature , Volume 434, 2005, p. 292.
- ↑ "Common Vampire" zootierliste.de
- ^ U. Schmidt, C. Schmidt: Echolocation performance of the vampire bat (Desmodus rotundus). In: Journal for Animal Psychology. Volume 45, Number 4, December 1977, pp. 349-358, PMID 610226 .
- ↑ U. Schmidt, G. Joermann: Echolocation in the vampire bat Desmodus rotundus . In: Z. f. Mammal studies . Volume 46, 1981, p. 129.
- ↑ G. Joermann, U. Schmidt: Echolocation in the vampire bat Desmodus rotundus. II. Sound transmission in flight and correlation to wing beat . In: Z. f. Mammal studies . Volume 46, 1981, p. 136.
- ↑ G. Joermann: Echolocation of vampire bats (Desmodus rotundus) in the field . In: Z. f. Mammal studies . 49, 1984, p. 221.
- ^ H. Stephan, P. Pirlot: Volumetric comparison of brain structures in bats . In: Bijdragen tot de Dierkunde . 40, 1970, p. 95.
- ↑ KP Bhatnagar, FC Kallen: Cribriform plate of ethmoid, olfactory bulb and olfactory acuity in forty species of bats . In: J. Morphol. 142, 1974, p. 71.
- ↑ R. Kämper, U. Schmidt: The morphology of the nasal cavity in some neotropical chiropters . In: Zoomorphol. Volume 87, 1977, p. 3.
- ^ U. Schmidt: Comparative olfactory threshold determinations in neotropical chiropters . In: Z. f. Mammal studies . Volume 40, 1975, p. 269.
- ↑ U. Schmidt: Orientation and Sensory Functions in Desmodus rotundus . In: Natural History of Vampire Bats (Editors: AM Greenhall, U. Schmidt). CRC Press, Boca Raton 1988, p. 143.
- ^ U. Manske, U. Schmidt: Visual acuity of the vampire bat, Desmodus rotundus, and its dependence upon light intensity. In: Journal for Animal Psychology. Volume 42, Number 2, October 1976, pp. 215-221, PMID 1007656 .
- ↑ K. Hessel: Comparative optokinetic studies on the performance of the visual system in neotropical bats (Fam. Phyllostomidae) and the house mouse . Diss., Bonn 1998.
- ↑ U. Manske, U. Schmidt: Investigations on the optical pattern differentiation in the vampire bat, Desmodus rotundus . In: Z. Tierpsychol. Volume 49, 1979, p. 120.
- ↑ G. Joermann, U. Schmidt, C. Schmidt: The Mode of Orientation during flight and approach to landing in two Phyllostomid Bats . In: Ethology . Volume 78, 1988, p. 332.
- ↑ U. Schmidt, P. Schlegel, H. Schweizer, G. Neuweiler: Audition in vampire bats, Desmodus rotundus (PDF; 733 kB). In: J. Comp. Physiol. A . Volume 168, 1991, p. 45.
- ↑ U. Gröger, L. Wiegrebe: Classification of human breathing sounds by the common vampire bat, Desmodus rotundus. In: BMC Biology . 4, 2006, p. 18.
- ↑ L. Kürten, U. Schmidt: Thermoperception in the common vampire bat Desmodus rotundus . In: J. Comp. Physiol. Volume 146, 1982, p. 223.
- ↑ L. Kürten, U. Schmidt, K. Schäfer: Warm and Cold Receptors in the Nose of the Vampire Bat, Desmodus rotundus . In: Natural Sciences . Volume 71, 1984, p. 327.
- ↑ AL Campbell, RR Naik, L. Sowards, MO Stone: Biological infrared imaging and sensing ( Memento of the original from June 15, 2003 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 628 kB). In: Micron . Volume 33, 2002, p. 211.
- ↑ L. Kürten: Mechanoreceptors in the nasal attachment of the vampire bat Desmodus rotundus . In: Z. f. Mammal studies . Volume 50, 1985, p. 26.
- ^ GS Wilkinson: Reciprocal food sharing in the vampire bat . In: Nature. Volume 308, 1984, p. 181.
- ^ GS Wilkinson: Social Organization and Behavior. In: Natural History of Vampire Bats (Editors: AM Greenhall, U. Schmidt). CRC Press, Boca Raton 1988, p. 85.
- ↑ S.-R. Park: Social behavior and acoustic communication in the vampire bat, Desmodus rotundus. Diss. Bonn, 1986.
- ^ C. Schmidt: Reproduction . In: Natural History of Vampire Bats (Editors: AM Greenhall, U. Schmidt). CRC Press, Boca Raton 1988, p. 99.
- ↑ U. Schmidt: The gestation period of the vampire bats (Desmodus rotundus) . In: Z. f. Mammal studies . Volume 39, 1974, p. 129.
- ↑ U. Schmidt, G. Joermann, C. Schmidt: Structure and variability of the abandonment sounds of juvenile vampire bats (Desmodus rotundus) . In: Z. f. Mammal studies . Volume 47, 1982, p. 143.
- ↑ T. Steiner, E. Jüttler, P. Ringleb: Acute Therapy of Stroke . In: The neurologist. Volume 78, No. 10, 2007, pp. 1147-1154.
Web links
- Desmodus rotundus in the endangered Red List species the IUCN 2009. Posted by: R. Barquez, S. Perez, B. Miller, M. Diaz, 2008. Accessed October 18 of 2009.
- Picture gallery (english)
- Information from the pharmaceutical company Paion on Desmoteplase
