Do vampire bats suck human blood?

Many of the furry little bats should be rated as our friends, for they destroy our enemies, the insects. The vampire bat, however, is not our friend. For his only food is fresh, warm blood taken from a living victim, He will take a meal from a sleeping human being. But the little vampire bat is not quite all bad as he is painted.

The true vampire bat lives in Mexico and Brazil and he is only three inches long. He lands on a sleeping camper, light as a feathery and uses his sharp front teeth to open a vein. The operation is quite painless and the sleeper does not awake. The bat does not suck blood, he laps it up as it oozes from the wound. The victim does not lose much blood, but the wound may become infected from disease germs carried by the little vampire.