Which came first? The vampire or the bat?

Consider this a Halloween-themed chicken or the egg question.

Did we model the vampire myth off of the real-life blood-drinking bat?

Or did we discover the bat and then name them after the vampire?

I won't keep you in suspense like I normally do. The vampire came first, not the bat.

It turns out the roots of the vampire myth go way back, as far back as ancient Greek myths

that featured nocturnal blood-sucking humans. We're talking about a 2,000-year-old legend here.

Meanwhile, vampire bats, though they evolved much earlier than this vampire legend,

are only present in South and Central America. So, did the Greeks know about these bats? No, of course

not. But what are the odds that the Europeans invent a myth about a nocturnal blood-sucking

beast only to come to America and discover that it's real.

And to make matters worse, it flies.

I think the odds are low.

And frankly, I think the odds are even lower that they would call the creature anything other than the vampire bat.

Desmodus Rotundus. I'm Mackin. This is Species.

Welcome to Species Podcast, the Halloween special. I know I said last week I was going to do the

potto this week, but I realized that Halloween was fast approaching, and I wanted to do a topical episode. So whoever wanted the potto, I'm sorry it's getting pushed back. That'll be my next mammal episode. I did some research on him. It'll be a good one. If you want to help me put out content for you guys, if you want to wish me a happy Halloween, go to Speciespodcast.com and donate.

You can also find social media and request animals

and stuff like that.

I really recommend you go.

I'm going to put up a couple of videos

for this special episode.

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