“Bats are terrible creatures that live in dark and mysterious caves. His favorite visits are cemeteries, where he flies between tombstones on foggy nights. They carry bedbugs. They are also blind, dirty and threatening to humans. '
Simply put, that's what a lot of people think of us. But like an old bat, let me say something in our defense. By the way, when I call myself "old" it can mean that I'm thirteen, even though I know bats that have lived for over twenty years.
Oh yeah.! It's me, the big brown bat on the next page. Rest in a glass with bright light to see it all. Check it out while I talk about myself and my family.
Get to know us better
We are mammals of the order Chiroptera. There are hundreds of our species in temperate and tropical regions of the world; then you cannot know all parents.
We are basically small, winged, hairy beings with bodies like those of a mouse. In fact, the Germans call the bat bat, which means "flying mouse".
In mammals, we can fly alone. "Oh, is that right?" you ask. "What about the flying squirrels?" Well all you can do is slide. We are different. The volume "Mammals of the World" states: "Bats are the only mammals that fly, although many flying mammals are referred to as" flies. "
Depending on the species, my parents' head and face look like a bear, a dog or maybe a fox. One is called a horse's head for obvious reasons. In some cases the nose shows growth, possibly leaf-shaped. Sensory nerve endings are found in these growths.
Bats vary a lot and I can only imagine someone asking, "Who is the most beautiful of them all?" We're not all ugly, that's for sure. But the wrinkled bat will never win a beauty pageant. When the best word for your properties is grotesque.
And the color? Most of us are brown, gray, or black. But there are variations. For example, the winged ghost is white, possibly mixed with gray. There is a fruit bat with a blackish head and dark brown wings with yellow spots. Of course, these are only examples.
We are known to deceive people. At least I didn't come down without explaining first. Think of a little bat from tropical America and Trinidad. It was found that he stopped at the foot of a bridge overnight, accompanied by cockroaches two inches long. Walter W. Dalquest wrote of these bats: “The resemblance to a cockroach was fantastic. The exposed "legs" were the wingtips that looked back and forth from the body at an angle of 30 degrees. . . . It was completely indistinguishable from bat cockroaches 20 feet away, except I didn't see the cockroach's bright red eyes. "
How we fly
In fact, our wings are made of thin skin. It runs from our front legs on either side of our body to our back legs. The skin or membrane runs between our five fingers, that is, the four fingers and the thumb.
We usually live upside down at our feet. In general, we "take off" by simply falling from one point. We just spread our wings and we're in the air. But we have no problem "taking off" from a unified position. We just jump in the air with legs and arms at the time of takeoff.
In terms of size, there are huge differences between us. For example, the small brown bat with a body less than 10 centimeters in length can spread its wings up to 35.5 centimeters. The winner among us, however, is the "flying fox", so called because of its appearance. These dark brown bats, which live in most of the tropics except South America, have a wingspan of up to 1.5 meters.
In terms of scope, there are really big differences between us. For example, the little brown bat with a body less than 10 cm long can spread its wings up to 35.5 cm. The winner among us, however, is the "flying fox", which got its name from its appearance. These dark brown bats, which live in most tropics except South America, have wings that can reach over 1.5 meters in height.
To turn or stop in flight, the brown bat lowers its tail and acts as a brake. The bat flies slowly, but it can also fly over something interesting.
Where we live
Now a word about life in the dark and strange caves. I have to admit that millions of us sleep in deep, dark caves. But did you know that some of us live in trees, various buildings, ancient temples - yes, and even tombs -? Some live in some Egyptian pyramids! Others tend to empty bird nests and animal shelters. We also live in towers and towers. Eden Phillpotts wrote, "Your father's sister had bats in the tower and they took her away." (Peacock House) Of course, you know it's a funny way for a writer to say she's crazy. Well, we're responsible for that, because sometimes the bats sleep up there with the bells in the towers.
What we eat
Let me tell you how we can group bats not by scientific name but by our eating habits and physiology. Most are insectivores. They usually catch prey during the flight. Fruit eaters are tropical bats that mainly feed on wild fruits, although they are known to cause serious damage to orchards.
Some of us are small florists with long tongues. Pollen and nectar are your diet. Lizards, frogs, small mammals and birds are on the menu for medium-sized carnivorous bats, although they also eat other things. Then there are the fish eaters. Their powerful feet have hooked claws that can catch prey near the water surface.
But I left out someone who gave us a bad reputation.
The evil vampire
Fictional stories have been circulating for some time about the dead who probably leave their graves at night, turn into bats and suck blood from unhappy people. You know the old story of vampires. Well, especially in the tropics and subtropics of America, there are members of my "family" called vampire bats. They feed on blood, sometimes they sleep.
The vampire bat has razor-sharp teeth. In fact, they are so sharp that the bite is almost painless and they rarely wake the sleeping animal or man. This bat can absorb itself for about twenty minutes and get enough blood to make the body spherical before the meal is over.
In fact, the amount of blood that is aspirated (not aspirated) is not so great that people are in danger. But there is another danger. Vampire bats can be angry. If left unchecked, their bite can cause hydrophobicity and death. Vampire bats also transmit other diseases, such as murrina, which affects livestock. These small bats are also dangerous because their bites can cause secondary infections.
We are truly unique!
Let me tell you a few things that are special about us. Some of us are resting. Listen to what James Poling said: “The bat is warm-blooded when it is active, but cold-blooded when it is asleep. It can rest faster and easier than other mammals, which is why it is so easy to cool down. [Some of us are kept in research laboratories]. You just drop your body temperature and fall asleep; The heart slows down from 180 beats per minute to three, breathing goes from eight breaths per second to eight per minute. Although the bat has accumulated fat, as it usually does in early autumn, before hibernation, it can live unattended and unattended in the cold room for several months and wait its turn for a laboratory test. »- Travel and secrets in our fauna.
Those of us who don't sleep in caves or elsewhere in the winter move to places where we can find food. Some of us also think it's a good idea to spend the winter months in warmer climates.
Tell me, did you know that some of our pregnant women live in maternity hospitals? Nocturnal bats are a good example. Sometimes up to four hundred pregnant women get together and set up “maternity homes” in buildings or trees. Additionally, some women seem to store male semen. In many cases, we mate in the fall and rest in the winter, but our females don't ovulate until the following spring, which means fertilization can take place at this point. Isn't that something?
Our echo localization system
There are people who use the expression “blind like a bat”. But we are not blind and some of us can see well. In any case, we have a very particular type of movement which confuses scientists. It's called "Echolocation" and here's how it works:
When we fly, we make beeps, squeaks, clicks, buzzes and the like through our mouths or noses. Since these noises are between 25,000 and 70,000 vibrations per second, you will not be able to hear most sounds in the hearing range up to 30,000 vibrations. But you know we don't hear our noises either, because when they are sent, our ear muscles contract and temporarily cut off the sound. What we hear is the echo bouncing off all objects in our path. So even in total darkness, we can maneuver to avoid obstacles.
With all this buzz, buzz and so on, how can we avoid collisions when so many of us are together? “It is possible,” writes Thomas R. Henry, “that each animal has its own sound pattern and is only controlled by its own echoes. Otherwise, it appears to be utter confusion because of the echoes of several hundred bats. moving."
Why not go further? How do insectivorous bats differ between jumping obstacles and those looking for possible meals? So far you don't know and I won't tell you.
What is the point of all these conversations? Well I just wanted to correct some misconceptions about myself and my other brochures. One more thing: I really wanted to impress you with our unique abilities.
Good one