Ethiopian Vampire Bat

The Ethiopian vampire bat or devil bird a species of bat endemic to Ethiopia. It is a sanguinivorous bat, the only one of its kind in Africa, with a wingspan of 12 to 15 inches which lives primarily in the Devil's Cave near Nek’emte, in the Welega division of Ethiopia.

They prey mostly on hoofed mammals, multiple bats will bite a single animal which can result in severe blood loss if the targeted animal is small enough. The Ethiopian Vampire Bat can be considered an agricultural pest as they will target livestock such as goats.

The only known sanguinivorous bats are found in the Americas. George Eberhart has suggested that infected bites from parasites carried by the bats could be mistaken for bat bites; that infection from fungal spores found in bat guano could be blamed on the bats; and that the bats regular activities could have been exaggerated by folklore.

The fungal spores found in these bats guano can cause an intense hallucinogenic high. Poachers will go to great lengths to gather and sell this guano, often disturbing roosting bats in the process. Much of the bat’s wild population has disappeared due to illness and stress brought on by these disturbances or from bats being captured and put into guano farms.