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The bat is customary to associate with the figure of the vampire. Well, in Vilanova de Sau, there are quite a few, as can be seen in this photographic report in Las Fotos de los Lectores de La Vanguardia.
In these snapshots we can see in detail the Pipistrellus pipistrellus, the common bat or dwarf bat, a species widely spread throughout Europe (from the Iberian Peninsula to Russia), as well as North Africa.
It is the smallest of the European bats (it measures from 3.5 to 5 cm) and colonies of more than a thousand specimens are known. In exceptional cases in central and eastern Europe, more than 10,000 have been found in churches and underground cavities.
They can use holes in trees and rocks as shelter, as well as cracks in buildings. They live about five years on average although there have been cases with 15 years of life. However, mortality is very high during the first year of life: 80%.
It is common to find them near lampposts and artificial lights, hunting the insects that are attracted to them.
A lot of mythology hangs over bats. A vampire is, according to folklore, a creature that feeds on the vital essence of other living beings (their blood) in order to stay active.
In some Eastern and Native American cultures, this superstition is a demonic deity or lesser god who is part of the sinister pantheon.
"Vampire" is a word that began to be used in Europe in the 18th century. In the Dictionary of the Spanish language of the Royal Spanish Academy, it was included for the first time in the ninth edition, from 1843.
It originates from the term "vampire" in English and French, in turn from the term "vampir" in Slavic languages and from German, derived from the Polish "wampir" and this in turn from the archaic Slavic "oper", of which there are parallel Indo-European roots in Turkish and Persian. It means at the same time: "to be a flyer", "to drink or suck" and "wolf". In addition, it also refers to a certain type of blood-sucking bat.
