Each of us has seen a bat at least once in life. They are, in fact, are
the fluffy bird without feathers that slam their wings in search of
someone's hair, in which they build their nest, simultaneously infecting
a host shag rabies. Even if the bat does not turn into a hungry
vampire, most people prefer not to be around them ... just in case. But
in fact, we do not know much about these amazing creatures.
10. In nature, there are more than a thousand species of bats
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At the moment there are 1,240 different species of bats, and that's just
the ones we know about. They really are one of the most diverse animals
on earth. It is believed that a total of bats is 20 percent of all
mammals in the world. Just imagine, someone turns out to be so much free
time that he started counting all mammal species on the planet. They
considered each species of rodents, cats, dogs, monkeys, whales, and so
on, and still came to the conclusion that the number of bats outnumber
any other kind of animal. Every fifth animal of this series is a long
furry bat. And if you can look at all of them put together, you will be
amazed at how much they differ from each other. Of all the hundreds of
species of bats in the temperate zones inhabited by less than fifty, so
it is not difficult to forget that they can grow to enormous size, such
as living in the tropics krylanovye bats wingspan which is 180
centimeters. Bats can also be tiny, as svinonosaya bat that lives in
Thailand and is the smallest mammal in the world, since the length of
its body is only 2.9-3.3 cm.
9. Bats are important pollinators
They are important pollinators and seed sowers. As well as some of the
birds and the bees, many bats flit fun with a flower to drink nectar,
moving pollen between plants and spreading the seeds through their
droppings. Moreover, hundreds of things that we use in daily life,
became available only because of the bats. Depend on them such things as
wild bananas, avocados, peaches, mango, cashew and many others. And
this is only part of the meal. Bats also ensure the survival of the
seventy-two species of medicinal plants, as well as dozens of other
plants that are required for timber, fiber and dyes. And even if this is
not enough, then you know that bats help to one of the most important
plant - agave. That's right, if it were not for bats - on the tequila
would have to forget.
8. Bats help farmers save millions
Bats are an incredibly powerful force for pest control. But you probably
already heard about it. Bats eat insects, which no one likes, and
everyone is happy. Maybe you've heard that one bat can destroy 1,200
mosquitoes per hour. Unfortunately for us, but fortunately for
mosquitoes, this is only half true. Despite the fact that they could
probably do it, bats prefer to snack more fleshy insects such as
caterpillars and beetles. The good news is that most of those
caterpillars and beetles, which they love, are pests. In a recent study,
the research team decided to try to calculate how much money bats save
American farmers each year destroying pests. They turned out amazing
amount of 3.7 billion. As a minimum, a maximum, this amount was
approximately $ 50 billion. In any case, this amount is enough for you
to buy a bat in each country something nice for his birthday.
7. Vampire bat bats are superhischnikami
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Vampire bat bats are amazingly good hunt. Moreover, they are the only
mammals in parasitic world. It certainly sounds in two ways, but it is
true, as the bats have evolved in such a way that no one is better than
they can produce blood. First, they can find and distinguish the
individuals of animals, just listening to the sound of their breathing.
This means that if they are a particularly good source of food, for
example, a cow, whose blood tastes like chocolate, they will be able to
find a chocolate cow over and over again every night, do not confuse it
with all the other less palatable cows in the corral. Furthermore, they
are located at the tip of the nose three heat receptor, each of which
they can refer to different sides independently. They are not just
strong enough to allow the bats to detect body heat from a distance, but
also sensitive enough to show the best places for a bite - where blood
vessels are closest to the skin surface. When they find a likely target,
the first thing they start mowing. Using specialized teeth, they can,
if necessary, shave prevent them from hair or fur before biting. Once
they betray their teeth into prey, comes the high point of their saliva.
It contains substances that prevent blood clotting, allowing the bat
freely drink as much blood as it should. Vampire bat bats had to develop
a good system of hunting, because they can not survive more than two
days without food. Therefore, if you find that you are eating vampire
bat bat, just remember that you are saving her life. And then go to the
doctor. Quickly.
6. Not all bats eat fruit and insects
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Some bats prefer the production of larger sizes. They are not all
blood-sucking insect-or. Some bats - the real hunters. For example, some
have evolved so as to be able to catch fish. Using their echolocation,
they can discern the slightest signal ripples on the surface of the
lake. Then they swoop down and snatch fish from the water with its hind
legs armed with claws. Catch of fish they fly to the nearest pole and
eat their prey. Others, such as bat ghost that lives in Australia,
hunting for anything - rodents, lizards, frogs, nesting birds and even
other bats. They throw themselves on their victims on top, cover them
with their wings, and they have a snack neck, instantly killing before
you eat. But none of these mice can not be compared to a giant Evenings.
During migration, some birds prefer to fly at night, ironically, in
order to avoid predators. In fact, they are simply a great snack for
giant vechornytsi that can catch on the fly, even the fastest and most
agile birds. If desired, they probably would have been great fishers
frisbee.
5. Bats are intelligent and social animals
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Bats are intelligent and sociable. For example, long-eared bats form
colonies within the colony and they are friends groups of approximately
twenty animals each. Each of these small group formed around a single
female family. Despite the fact that all the colonies bats perfectly get
together, they prefer to be in these small groups. Even if they do not
see each other for a while, they still gather in the same small groups.
As in humans, their friendly relationship may vary. Some bats can always
leave one group and join another, remain in place only females related
by blood. If grandma goes, so did the daughter and granddaughter. What
is surprising is that bats can distinguish between other selected
individuals by the difference in their popiskivanii also they can place
other mice on a bit of a mental map to always know where they are. It is
believed that because of this ability, they can fly thousands at high
speed without turning into a pile of fluffy spots on the walls of caves.
4. Bats for a very long time hibernate
Hibernation of bats can easily confound the hibernation of bears, making
her look like a midday sleep cat. While bears simply poured on the
intervals lasting several weeks, bats substantially solidify and hold in
this position months. Their breathing slows down until it becomes a
subtle and frequency of heart rate drops to only 25 beats per minute,
compared to about 400 beats per minute when they are awake. Even more
impressive is that their body temperature is reduced in accordance with
the ambient air temperature is sometimes falls below zero. As a rule,
they wake up for a few minutes every few weeks to have a drink, what
they do, licking condensed moisture from their fur, but also there are
cases where even the bats did not move for several months.
3. Bats are surprisingly loud
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Sorry, we meant AWESOME LOUD. The researchers were able to determine
that some species can produce sounds up to 140 decibels volume. To
better understand how it is that loud, you know that the pain threshold
in humans - the volume from which the sounds of physical pain, is only
about 120 decibels. Rock concerts are usually held at 110-115 decibels.
Bats are not only the loudest air animals in the world, but they are
also much louder than any terrestrial animal. So why do we all have not
yet destroyed the bats gathered in a flock? The answer lies in the fact
that most of the sounds produced bats too high frequency for the human
ear. In fact, it is believed that high frequency sounds issued by them
is the reason that they are so loud. High-frequency noise does not
travel through the air as well as low-frequency, so the bats scream, and
do not speak to compensate for this deficiency. It is not known whether
they are using only your inner voice, talking in a cave.
2. Hearing and echolocation of bats are much better than you think
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Bats are the world champions in echolocation, they make sounds, then
listen for the echo of the sound is reflected from other objects. While
the dolphins are using their echolocation, manage to get stuck in the
nets, bats, using their echolocation can even distinguish the individual
strands in the web. What makes the echolocation of bats is so good, is
called the super-fast muscle, which can move about a hundred times
faster than the normal human muscle. They are the only mammals known to
science that have superfast muscle that allows them to publish cheep
sound with a frequency of up to 190 times per second, which, in fact,
gives the bats to "see" through sound, albeit for a short distance. Of
course, a sonar would not make sense without the amazingly good hearing,
returning to capture sounds. But the bat that's all right. Their
hearing is so good that they can hear the insects moving under the
ground next to a busy highway. And we have to ask each other to repeat
themselves, because we have not heard the phrase due to soft music.
1. Millions of bats migrate vast distances
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In the U.S., many bats flying hundreds of miles during their seasonal
migrations in search of the same cave, which they used to sleep for
centuries. But that's nothing compared with the annual migration of palm
fruit bats in Africa. In November of each year, more than eight million
of these big bats arrive in Kasanka National Park (Kasanka National
Park) in Zambia, and spend the next couple of months, hanging from
perches on a tiny area of less than half a hectare. Each tree can
withstand up to ten tons of bats. During these two months, this tiny
piece of Zambia is the densest concentration of mammals on the planet.
With the arrival of dusk they take off and close the sky, flying into
the surrounding forest, where they obleplivayut trees, rich in ripe
fruit at this time of year. Weight of fruit eaten per night, more than
the weight of the bat in half. Researchers still do not know where these
bats spend the rest of the year, but suspect that they fly all over
Africa. What is known is that they fly great distances. The researchers,
who attached a tracking device on some of these bats have found that
they fly more than 965 miles per month. In order to more clearly
represent this distance, you can mentally draw a straight line from
Washington to Detroit.
