Iron balance in the common vampire bat Desmodus rotundus

Abstract

1. 1. Total body iron in the common vampire bat was 80 ± 67 mg Fe/kg body wt (mean ± SD). 2. 2. Mean (± SD) iron absorption as measured by the double isotope method was 0.068 ± 0.032% Fe. A typical adult bat ingests 6.1 mg Fe/day (Morton & Wimsatt, 1980) of which approximately 4.2 μg Fe is absorbed. 3. 3. Body iron turnover ( BIT) was estimated from the decrease in specific radioactivity of the blood over more than a year. The mean (± SD) of the half-life of iron turnover was 379 ± 101 days and that of the estimate of BIT, 0.14 ± 0.04% TBI/day. This is equivalent to a loss of approximately 4.6 μg Fe/day. 4. 4. The common vampire bat maintains iron balance by severely limiting the percentage of iron adsorbed from its very high iron diet.