By Ella Davies, Reporter, BBC Nature
Documentary makers have filmed vampire bats
preying on Humboldt penguin chicks.
The team travelled to the outskirts of the
Atacama Desert in Peru to record how the penguins interacted with other
species.
Despite anecdotal evidence of the bats attacking
penguins, the behaviour had never been recorded before.
The extraordinary footage features in the BBC
One series Penguins: Spy in the huddle.
Humboldt penguins breed in coastal South America
where they hunt fish in the cold waters of the current also named after the
German naturalist Friedrich Humboldt.
The production team were first drawn to the
location by the abundant wildlife, particularly the penguins' survival struggles
against a neighbouring colony of 20,000 predatory sea lions.
Although they witnessed vampire bats feeding on
the sea lions, it took patience and specialist kit to witness them attacking
penguin chicks.
Producer Matthew Gordon admitted that when they first
began filming, they were sceptical that the bats fed on penguins.
Continued and video: http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/21534299
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