ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Vampire bat

The vampire bat is a type of animal that likes to drink blood, kind of like how you like to drink juice or chocolate milk. But instead of drinking from a cup with a straw, the vampire bat uses its teeth to make a little cut on another animal’s skin and then it laps up the blood that comes out.

Vampire bats usually feed on other animals like cows, pigs, and even other smaller animals like birds or rabbits. They’re really good at finding the places on the animal where the blood is easiest to get to, and they know just where to bite to make the least amount of pain.

Even though it might seem a little scary that an animal wants to drink blood, vampire bats actually help keep other animals healthy! They feed on animals that might be sick or have too much blood, which can actually harm them. By drinking just a little bit of blood from lots of different animals, vampire bats help keep the whole ecosystem in balance.

It’s important to remember, though, that vampire bats are still wild animals and can be dangerous if they feel threatened or if they have a disease. So, it’s best to stay away from them and let them do their important work of keeping the animal world healthy.