Bats are amazing creatures that many people associate with bloodsuckers. However, is this really true? And what do you even know about them? It turns out that these animals have great amount incredibly interesting and amazing features. If you read this article, you will learn many facts that can help you better understand the characteristics of this species of animal. Moreover, you can tell your children about this; they love to learn interesting things that are sometimes hard to believe. And you can be sure that bats are quite interesting and unusual look animals, so neither you nor your children will be bored while studying their features. So read on and enjoy learning something new and exciting.
What kind of animals are these?
- Bats are mammals.
- They make up a quarter total number mammals living on Earth.
- They are the only mammals that can fly. Other species can glide for short periods of time, but cannot fly.
- Bats are nocturnal animals. This means that they are awake and hunt at night.
How do they navigate in space?
- Are they blind? No. Bats can see, but their vision does little to help them at night.
- Bats use echolocation to identify objects in the night.
- Echolocation is a system for detecting and identifying an object based on sound waves and echoes.
- How does echolocation work? Bats send out high frequency sound wave or noise using the mouth and sometimes the nose. This high frequency sound cannot be heard by the human ear. This sound will bounce off the object and return to the bat. She can determine what kind of object is in front of her based on how the echo sounds.
Variety of species
- There are over a thousand various types bats.
- These animals live on all continents except Antarctica.
- Bats do not live in very cold or very hot conditions.
- Different species of these animals eat different foods.
- Some of the food they eat are insects, fruits, fish, small mammals, and even blood.
- Don't worry: only vampire bats drink blood.
- There are three types vampire bats. They live in Central and South America.
- Vampire bats most often drink blood from birds.
- These creatures live in a wide range of habitat options. They can live in caves, in trees, under bridges, in abandoned mines, buildings, they can also live in a special house that anyone can make, sometimes they even live in attics.
- Bats sleep upside down.
- Can they harm a person? These animals carry rabies, but according to the Center for Disease Control, people are more likely to get rabies from pet dogs and cats.
- Do bats attack people? No, they don't attack people! If an animal is locked in a room, it may panic and accidentally bump into you, but it will never intentionally attack you.
- Bats can be useful to people.
- They help people by eating insects that destroy crops. Some species pollinate flowers and disperse plant seeds.
- These animals can even help you get rid of mosquitoes. One species of bat can eat up to a thousand mosquitoes per hour.
- These animals usually give birth to one baby; extremely rarely, two babies can be born at the same time.
- The cubs are born without hair and drink their mother's milk.
- The world's smallest species of these animals is the pig-nosed bat.
- Representatives of this species are only three centimeters in length and weigh no more than 500 grams.
- This species lives only in Thailand.
- Most great view in the world - this is a maned acerodon. It belongs to the fruit bat family.
- Representatives of this species are 55 centimeters long and weigh about one and a half kilograms. The wingspan of these mice is 180 centimeters.
- This species is a representative of fruit-eating bats. Representatives of this species live in the Philippines.
- Did you know that bat poop is called guano? Guano is often used as fertilizer.
- There are 47 different species of bats in the United States alone.
Bats (lat. Microchiroptera) is a name that summarizes all representatives of the order Chiroptera, except fruit bats. For a long time, bats were considered only as a suborder, but karyological and molecular genetic data have proven that the group is a composite one.
Description of the bat
Bats have lived on our planet for several tens of millions of years, and finds of the skeleton of such an animal date back to the Eocene period. According to scientists, ancient creatures practically did not differ from modern individuals, but the appearance of their ability to fly has still not found a scientific explanation.
Appearance
Despite the obvious differences between representatives different types bats in size and external characteristics, there are a lot of signs that unite them. The body of bats is covered with fur that has more light shades in the abdominal area. The wingspan of such an animal varies between 15-200 cm. The shape of the wings can be very different, including variations in length and width, but their structure is always the same. The animal's wings with leathery membranes are equipped with muscles and elastic veins, due to which they are pressed tightly against the body at rest.
This is interesting! Bats fly using membranous wings that move in sync with their hind limbs.
The forelimbs of bats are quite well developed, including strong short shoulders and very long forearms formed by a single radius. On thumb The forelimb has a hooked claw, and other fairly long fingers support the membranes of the wings, which are located on the sides.
The average length of the tail and the shape of the body directly depend on the species of the individual. The presence of a so-called bony outgrowth, called a “spur,” allows many species to quite easily unfold their wings all the way to the tail.
Lifestyle and behavior
Almost all bats, along with other bats, prefer a nocturnal lifestyle, so during the daytime they sleep, hanging upside down or hiding in the cracks of rocks, trees and buildings. Sufficient-sized cavities inside trees, caves and grottoes, as well as a variety of artificial above-ground and underground structures can be considered as a refuge for representatives of the class Mammals and the order Chiroptera.
Bat is able to fall into a state of torpor, which is accompanied by a decrease in the rate of metabolic processes, a slowdown in breathing intensity and a decrease in heart rate. Many representatives of the species fall into a long period seasonal hibernation, sometimes lasting eight months. The ability to easily independently regulate the metabolic rate in the body allows insectivorous bats to go without eating for a long time.
This is interesting! During normal movement, adult bats can easily reach a speed of 15 km/h, but during the hunt the animal accelerates to 60 km/h.
Representatives of many species live in different natural conditions, but the habits of bats are surprisingly similar. Such animals do not build nests, but a solitary lifestyle is characteristic of only a few species. During the resting process, bats try to carefully care for their appearance, so they carefully clean the wings, abdomen and chest. Indicators of mobility outside the summer period depend on species characteristics, so some representatives are characterized by some helplessness, and many bats can climb quite well and move quite actively with the help of tenacious paws.
How long do bats live?
Bats of any species are able to live quite a long time compared to many other animals of the Mammal class. For example, the average officially recorded life expectancy of the brown bat today is thirty years or more.
Types of bats
There are a great many species of bats, and varieties of bats are characterized by different skull structures and number of teeth:
- Tailless or– one of the smallest animals in size, up to 45 mm long. The echolocator animal lives in Honduras and countries in the territory Central America. Eats fruits. Individuals are united into families, most often consisting of five and six heads;
- Hog-nosed bats– animals with a tailless body length of up to 33 mm and a weight of 2.0 g. The nose resembles a pig’s snout in appearance. They live mainly in Thailand and neighboring countries, where they settle in limestone caves. Animals feed in bamboo and teak thickets;
- Evening bat- representative of one of the most large families in the form of thirteen subspecies. The animal has become widespread in North Africa and in European countries, where it settles in dense deciduous plantings. The length of a large bat is half a meter. Hunts at dusk and in the pre-dawn time for butterflies, beetles and some birds;
- Bat dog and fox or "fruit mouse" – whole view fruit bat mice with an elongated muzzle. The length of a large adult animal is 40-42 cm, weighs up to a kilogram and has a wingspan of up to 70 cm. The harmless animal feeds on fruit pulp and flower nectar. Inhabits the countries of tropical Asia;
- Smooth-nosed bats- a family represented by three hundred varieties, which are distinguished by a smooth muzzle without cartilaginous growths. Our country is home to just under forty species, which go into hibernation with the onset of winter;
- Ushany- bats with big ears-locators, short and wide wings. Body length does not exceed 50-60 mm. The diet consists of butterflies, mosquitoes, beetles and other nocturnal insects;
- Bulldog bat– the animal has special narrow, rather long and pointed wings, which allows it to perform high swings during flight. The body length is only 4-14 cm. They live in tropical zones, where they unite in colonies with different amounts individuals.
Range, habitats
The range and habitats of bats almost completely coincide with the distribution area of all representatives of the order Chiroptera. Most bats have their own special territories used for hunting and obtaining food, so representatives of the order Chiroptera very often fly along the same route.
Bats have important for various ecosystems around the world. People are often prejudiced and afraid of them. Let's take a moment and appreciate the adorable side of these little animals. And the 25 cutest species of bats will help us with this.
Bats are mysterious and misunderstood creatures. They are frequent heroes of dark and scary stories and myths. They have accumulated a bad reputation over the centuries. But in fact, bats are vital members of ecosystems around the world, serving as natural methods control pests and also help pollinate plants and disperse seeds. While some species may look a little creepy, other types of bats are downright adorable. We've rounded up 25 of the cutest bat species here to show you just how cute they can be.
This is a photo of a tiny baby Egyptian flying dog, the species is found throughout Africa and the Middle East.
California leaf-nosed bat
The species lives in Mexico and the USA and loves the warmth of deserts. This bat can be found in the Sonoran and Mojave deserts, where they feed on foods such as crickets, grasshoppers and moths. The California leaf-nosed bat is a specialist in flight and maneuver.
White leaf-nosed bat
The species is distinguished from most bats by its charming white color and yellow ears and nose. The white leaf-nosed plant is only 5 cm long. During roosts, they settle down along the ribs of large leaves, where they make tent-like structures. This technique protects them from the elements and predators while they rest.
Indian flying fox
This species is one of the largest among bats, with a wingspan of 120-150 cm. During the day, Indian flying fox can fly from 14 to 65 km, so its importance for widespread seed dispersal and pollination should not be underestimated.
Big brown leathern
Cute leather with a wonderful name. This species is found in North America, Central America and the northernmost part South America. They are of great benefit to people, destroying pests such as moths, beetles, etc.
Dwarf epaulette fruit bat
This funny and cute species reaches only 7-9 cm in length. Found in Africa, they feed on small fruits, nectar and pollen.
Horseshoe bats
This is a family of bats with amazingly shaped skin around the nose and rather large ears. They are insect eaters. Horseshoe bats use their ears for echolocation and their wide wings for highly flexible flight when chasing prey.
Brown long-eared bat
This species of European bat also has a particularly long ears with characteristic folds at the bottom. But even with such ears, this species relies more on its vision. The brown long-eared bat mainly feeds on moths, which it finds among the leaves and bark of trees.
Striped yellow-eared leaf-nosed bat
This delightful specimen lives in Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Nicaragua and Panama in mature evergreen forests. The number of individuals of this species of leaf-nosed insects has sharply decreased due to human encroachment into its habitat.
Mediterranean horseshoe bat
The list of the 25 cutest species of bats continues with the Mediterranean horseshoe bat, which is listed in the IUCN Red List. They live in warm, wooded area, especially with big amount caves and water sources. There they hunt butterflies and insects.
White-bellied Arrowhead
The white-bellied arrowhead lives in the desert regions of Morocco across Egypt and the Arabian Peninsula. It has adapted well to arid and inhospitable regions. The white-bellied arrowhead is the first enemy of scorpions, which it usually feeds on. He is immune to their poisons.
Lesser pipistrelle
This European look is one of those that like to live near rivers and streams. The pipistrelle bat hunts in forests and wetlands for aquatic midges and other insects.
Big false vampire
The species is found in South Asia and South-East Asia in humid tropical forests. Behind this bat's charming appearance lies an exceptional predator. A big false vampire can eat anything from large insects to lizards, frogs, rats, small birds and even other species of small bats. Surprisingly, it can detect and catch prey, a mouse or a frog, in complete darkness and without the use of echolocation.
Small false vampire
Mini versions of large false vampires. Instead of large prey, they feed on insects. Small false vampires live in groups of 3-30 individuals in crevices, caves and tree hollows.
Large fruit-eating leaf-nosed insect
This is a fairly common species in South and Central America. The IUCN Red List considers this species to be at minimal risk of extinction.
Red hairtail
This proud female red hairtail protects her three tiny babies. Such hugs retain the right amount of warmth. Very often, females of this species give birth to twins or even two pairs of twins (quadruplets).
Hog-nosed bat
Another tiny species on our list of the 25 cutest bat species, it is only 2.5-3.3 cm in length. The hog-nosed bat is the smallest of its related species and perhaps also the most small mammal in the world.
Malayan short-nosed fruit bat
Found in South and Southeast Asia and Indonesia, this bat loves mango dishes. She also eats other fruits, but prefers mango. They also eat nectar and pollen, like other fruit-eating bats, and are important for plant pollination.
Spotted long-eared bat
Very cute tiny bats with spots. The spotted long-eared bat has the largest ears relative to its body size. Primarily hunts grasshoppers and butterflies.
Gray hairtail
This species can be found throughout North and South America. It gets its name from the gray coloration of its coat. The gray hairy tail is a solitary species, sleeps in trees and hunts primarily for moths.
Spectacled flying fox
These bats live in forested and tropical regions of Northern Australia. Their diet consists of tropical fruits and flowers. Babies stay near their mother for up to 5 months. They then join other juveniles in "children's trees" where they continue to learn how to fly.
Southern Lesser Yellow-eared Shoveler
This species lives in the Atlantic Forest in southern Brazil and eastern Paraguay. Apart from the fact that it is a very cute species, very little is known about it.
Sulawi fruit bat
The Sulawesi fruit bat is a famous lowland species of the Sulawesi subregion. Locals They consider this little one to be the bearer of good luck. Like other fruit-eating species, this one also makes a significant contribution to the ecosystem.
Pale Spearman
This Central and South American species feeds primarily on nectar, pollen and flowers, but they are omnivores and can also catch insects. In some areas, their diet may shift from plants to insects depending on the season.
Gambian epaulette fruit bat
Rounding out the list of the 25 cutest bat species is the Gambian epaulette fruit bat. Found primarily in Africa, they feed on figs, guavas, mangoes and banana trees. They also use vision and smell, rather than echolocation, to search for food.
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A bat and a rodent have only external similarities. Just as small, nimble, with a similar muzzle. Due to the structural features of the forelimbs, the animal is classified as a member of the order Chiroptera.
This is interesting. The bat is the only mammal that can fly, like a bird. The same flying squirrel is just planning. The heroine of the story completely controls the flight, continuing it for the required time and turning in the right directions.
Bat wings are modified, elongated fingers connected by a membrane. By straightening them, the animal flies. There are many species of skilled nocturnal predators in the world. Moreover, not only mice, but also flying dogs, foxes, bats, long-eared bats, leaf-nosed bats, horseshoe bats and even vampires. By the way, from the name you can understand what bats eat. For example, leaf-nosed animals are vegetarians who prefer mainly nuts. Vampires (there are only three types) - fresh blood of large animals and occasionally humans. The overwhelming majority are true predators.
As is clear from the description, a bat is not a rodent. The way of eating is different, as is the way of life, which made it possible to attribute cute creature to a separate squad. Let's take a closer look at the flying predator.
Life of a Bat
The predominant number of bats prefer to eat insects, but there are others. Vegetarian leafnoses love nuts, giant noctules specialize in lizards and frogs, and some will not refuse fish. Let's deal with those who drink blood. Are there really little black vampires in nature, or are they just fairy tales?
This is interesting. There are only three species of bats in America that eat blood and flesh. But to say that they stick is incorrect. Rather, they bite and lick off the protruding liquid without giving up pieces of meat. Since bats are secretive animals that live in dark places and active at night, people have long associated them with something evil, otherworldly. Hence the emergence of legends about vampires - dead people who easily turn into animals. In fact, the belief only remotely reflects reality.
Bats appear in the house by chance, preferring to live remotely from humans. Sometimes they can be found in attics, but only if the room is uninhabited. Preferred locations are abandoned buildings, hollow trees, cave formations and similar shelters. During the day, animals sleep with their paws hooked onto a horizontal surface and hanging upside down, and at night they go out hunting. The flight of a bat is smooth, almost inaudible and invisible to insects. Why?
The reason for this is the animal’s ability to echolocation. Bats navigate in flight using neither vision nor even smell. They are able to catch waves emanating from an object that stands in the way. To do this, the animal needs to constantly scream so that the echo is reflected from the obstacle. Fortunately, humans cannot hear emitted ultrasounds, otherwise the flight of a bat would turn into unbearable torture for our ears. This squeak is so piercing and painful.
Here are a few more amazing facts about the heroes of today's story:
Now you know what bats eat, how they live, navigate in flight using echolocation, and are considered quite useful helpers for humans. That's why you're afraid interesting predators It’s not worth it at all, and even less so to drive them away from the site.
And yet, what to do if a bat flies into the apartment? After all, when frightened, she may accidentally bite a person, and this is dangerous. Let's find out how to drive away a lost animal.
We drive away the uninvited guest
If a bat flies into your house, don't panic. Believe me, this happened completely by accident, and the animal is just as scared as you are. The simplest thing is to catch it. Moreover, you will have to act quickly, because the guest knows how to navigate well in space, even in an unfamiliar place. Experts recommend using some thick fabric. The animal is carefully knocked down and wrapped in linen, and then released into the street. Open the window - perhaps the guest will fly out on his own, without your help. Do not catch under any circumstances with bare hands and don’t twitch - the bat may get scared and bite. If trouble does happen, you will definitely have to go to the doctor.
Bats do not live in houses, preferring to hide from humans, so you can be happy about such a visit: quite a rare event. If a bat appears in an apartment, you cannot kill it. There is a popular belief that in this case you will simply shorten your own life. In China they say that such a visit promises big money.
Looking at a photo of a bat, many notice its resemblance to the rodent of the same name. And color, and size, and even the shape of the muzzle, and resourcefulness, agility. But in reality, animals are different. It doesn’t matter whether the bat in front of you is small or large, the main thing is to always remember that it is great helper and a friend of any gardener and gardener, which means there is no need to destroy it.
The data did not show that this is a composite group: representatives of the superfamily Rhinolophoidea are more related to fruit bats than to other bats. However, in Russian-language scientific and popular science literature the name continues to be used in its previous meaning. In fact, representatives of 6 families belonging to Rhinolophoidea and 14 families, now united in the suborder Yangochiroptera, fall under this name; bats are also the names given to representatives of fossil families of the order, some of which appear to be older than the division of living groups, including fruit bats.
In general, bats are different from fruit bats the following signs(although there are exceptions):
- there is no claw on the second toe of the forelimbs;
- The outer ears are usually complex in shape, often have a developed tragus or antitragus, folded posterior edge, etc.
- the overall size is usually small (on average, the body weight of bats is 4-10 g), although among the insectivorous bats there are those that are larger than the smallest fruit bats;
- the facial part of the skull is shortened;
- eyes, as a rule, are small and do not play a leading (let alone exclusive) role in orientation in space;
- the cheek teeth retain the system of cusps and ridges lost in fruit bats;
- all bats have developed ultrasonic echolocation.
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Nutrition
An insectivorous bat can eat up to 200 mosquitoes in an hour of hunting.
Lifestyle
Almost all bats (like bats in general) are nocturnal, and during the day they sleep, either hanging upside down, or huddled in cracks in trees, rocks, or crevices in buildings. Shelters can be cavities in trees, caves, grottoes and various artificial structures, both above-ground and underground. Bats are capable of falling into torpor, accompanied by a decrease in metabolic rate, respiration rate and heart rate; many are able to fall into long-term seasonal hibernation (up to 8 months). Thanks to the ability to regulate their metabolic rate, many insectivorous bats can for a long time go without food, but because large area wing membranes quickly lose moisture and, without free access to it, can die from dehydration. Active, like everyone else small mammals, have very high level exchange, requiring, accordingly, a lot of food; on average, an insectivorous bat eats about a third per night own weight. In one summer, a colony of hundreds of individuals eats about 350-700 thousand insects (many of which are pests of agriculture and forestry), a large colony can destroy more than 10 million insects.
Spreading
The range of bats practically coincides with the range of the order Chiroptera.
Using echolocation
Bats detect objects blocking their path by emitting sounds inaudible to humans and picking up their echoes reflected from objects. Before the discovery of ultrasonic echolocation, bats were thought to have extrasensory perception. They were deprived of the ability to use their eyesight, their wings were covered with thick varnish to deprive them of the ability to feel air currents, and still they avoided the obstacles located in the experimental chamber.
During flight, bats sing songs using complex combinations of syllables at high frequencies (due to their ability to echolocate). They produce ultrasonic waves between 40 and 100 kHz. The call of the Brazilian folded lip consists of 15 to 20 syllables. When courting a female, each male sings his own song, although in general the melodies of all songs are similar. The difference lies in the individual combination of different syllables. Complex voice messages used not only for courtship, but also for identifying each other, designating social status, determining territorial boundaries, when raising offspring and when countering individuals who have invaded someone else's territory. According to biologist Michael Smotherman, no other mammal except humans has the ability to communicate using such complex vocal sequences. The vocal center, responsible for organizing complex sequences of syllables, is located slightly higher in bats than in humans, and scientists cannot yet determine exactly where it is located.
Bats that feed on fish (for example, the Mexican fish-eating mouse) patrol the water surface at night, emitting very strong echolocation signals. However, these signals do not penetrate the water column. The mouse will not detect the fish underwater, but will immediately find it if the fish sticks out at least a small part of its body from the water.
Echolocation of bats varies among different families. Horseshoe bats emit signals through their nose, and these signals are short (50-100 ms) ultrasonic bursts with a constant frequency of 81-82 kHz, but at the end of the signal the frequency drops sharply to 10-14 kHz. And smooth-nosed bats emit significantly shorter (2-5 ms) signals through their mouths with a frequency that during this time drops from 130 to 30-40 kHz.
Bats are able to detect obstacles made of wires at a distance of 17 meters. The detection range depends on the wire diameter. A wire with a diameter of 0.4 mm will be found from a distance of 4 meters, and a wire with a diameter of 0.08 mm from 50 cm. The wavelength of typical bat locating signals is about 4 mm. However, the mouse reacts not only to the thickness, but also to the length of the wire, with the result that if the segment is long enough, the wire will be detected.
Danger
Bats in culture
A bat is a chimera, a monstrous impossible creature, a symbol of dreams, nightmares, ghosts, a sick imagination... The general irregularity and monstrosity seen in the body of a bat, the ugly anomalies in the structure of the senses, allowing the disgusting animal to hear with its nose and see with its ears - all this, as if deliberately, adjusted to ensure that the bat was a symbol of mental disorder and madness.
- In the LEGO (LEGO Chima) line, one of the Outland clans is the clan of bats.
- European dragons and demons are traditionally depicted with bat wings.
- In the novel Dracula, vampires first began to turn into bats.
- Stylized images of a bat are symbols of Batman and Batgirl.
- Bat ("non-bat" - due to a damaged wing) - satellite
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