Literature has always portrayed bats as creepy, evil creatures (to wit: Bram Stoker's Dracula), but new scientific discoveries may turn bats into some of the most lovable and valued animals in the world. They seem to hold the secret to longevity.
"Maybe it's all in the blood," says Emma Teeling, a geneticist studying the exceptional longevity of bats in the hope of discovering benefits for humans. The University College Dublin researcher works with the charity Bretagne Vivante to study bats living in rural churches and schools in Brittany, western France. "We're taking a little bit of blood, but rather than us being the vampires to the bats we're making them give us their secrets," she told the news service AFP.
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