Taste preferences of the common vampire bat (Desmodus rotundus)

Taste preference tests, with simultaneous presentation of treated and untreated food, were administered to 24 common vampire bats (Desmodus rotundus). The bats received brief exposures to four different stimuli representing sweet, salty, sour, and bitter tastes, each at four different concentrations. Despite a strong location bias, the bats significantly (P < 0.01) avoided the highest concentrations of the salty, sour, and bitter tastes. Consumption of the sweet stimulus at all concentrations was similar to that of the untreated standard. Vampires evidently can discriminate based on taste, although their ability is apparently poorly developed when compared with some euryphagous species such as the rat. Hence, taste is probably not a factor in host selection by the vampire.