Where do bats live? Photo and video. 50 interesting and curious facts about the types of bats Why the bat is a predatory animal

The bats – the only mammals that have mastered the air environment thanks to their wings. In addition, the bat is not a relative of the terrestrial, either in origin or in lifestyle.

What species is a bat? She belongs to the order of bats, whose name speaks for itself. Why bats called mice? it was named for its distant external resemblance to a land rodent and the ability to make sounds similar to a mouse squeak.

Appearance

Bat, description: most of the animal's body is devoted to the wings. If you do not take them into account, then you can note a miniature torso with a short neck and an elongated head. The mouth opening of the animals is large, sharp teeth can be seen through it.

Some types of bats fascinate people with a pretty face, others scare unusual shape nose, disproportionately large ears and amazing growths on the head.

The cutest bats of the fruit bat family considered a fruit dog: She has large open eyes and a long, fox-like nose. Interestingly, the names of some were given based on the shape of the nose of animals: pig-nosed, horseshoe-nosed, smooth-nosed.

The white bat has a peculiar “horn” on its muzzle that gives the nose the shape of a petal. Thanks to this device, the forward-directed nostrils of the animal capture odors faster and more efficiently.

Not less than the bulldog mouse has a specific appearance: on its muzzle in the transverse direction there is a cartilaginous fold running above the nose from one auricle to another. The cartilaginous roller brings together the edges of the auricles, increasing their area for more perfect hearing, which is necessary for orientation in space during the flight.

On the muzzle animal you can "read" about lifestyle and even mouse nutrition. For example, fruit lovers don't need the powerful locators needed by flying representatives that cut through the neighborhood at night. But their nostrils are wider: They search for food based on smells..

Photo

What a bat looks like: see the photo below:

Structure

Birds have adapted to flight thanks to lightweight cellular bones, air sacs in the lungs, and a cover that is heterogeneous in structure and function of feathers. Flying bats do not have all this, and skin membranes can hardly be called wings.

How do bats fly? Flight mice like flying aircraft Leonardo da Vinci, who adopted from nature the idea of ​​\u200b\u200bthe structure of the wing of a flying mammal.

A continuous, air-tight skin membrane "covers" air masses from above, which allows the animals to push off from them and fly.

Skeleton and wings

The skeleton of a bat has its own characteristics. limbs bats are modified: they serve as a backbone for the wing. The humerus in these animals is short, and the bones of the forearm and the last 4 fingers are elongated in order to increase the area of ​​\u200b\u200bthe flying “mantle”.

A skin-fibrous fold is stretched from the neck to the fingertips of the animals. Thumb with a tenacious claw is not included in the wing, he necessary for the animal to grasp. between hind legs and long tail the posterior (interfemoral) part of the membrane is stretched.

See what bat wings look like in the photo below:

Flight

The arm with the wing is set in motion by several paired muscles of the upper girdle, which to reduce energy costs for flights attached not to the chest, but to the fibrous base wing. The keel of the sternum of the animals is inferior in power to the avian one: only one muscle necessary for flight is attached to it - the pectoralis major.

Spine at flying mammals more mobile than birds. It allows mice to be more agile out of air.

Ground movement

How does a bat move? Evolution has deprived bats of strong bones lower belt, thigh and lower leg, leaving behind them the right to fly most of their lives.

Some types of mice, such as vampire mice, have stronger thigh bones and able to walk on earth. They are supported by the thickened skin of the paw pads. Fruit bats cannot move in this way and do it extremely clumsily.

Dimensions and weight

Tiny body length animals inhabiting Russia, usually does not exceed 5 cm, the wingspan of the smallest of them is 18 cm. The mass of champions-babies is 2-5 g.

Earflaps, white and pig-nosed mice have small sizes. Representative of the last species considered one of the smallest mammals on the ground.

Large individuals weigh up to a kilogram. The distance between the tips of the fingers of the front paws with spread wings can reach one and a half meters, and the body length is 40 cm. Bats, South American false vampires, are considered real giants among bats.

sense organs

The reaction of bats to light: Bat retinas lack cones- receptors responsible for daytime vision.

Their vision is twilight and is provided by sticks. That's why animals are forced to sleep during the day, because at daylight they see badly.

Some representatives of the eyes are covered with bizarre skin folds. This further confirms the hypothesis that navigate in mouse space not with the help of a visual analyzer. Close relatives of bats, fruit bats, also belonging to the order Chiroptera, have cones. These animals can be found during the day.

Minor role for the animals of the visual analyzer was discovered in a simple experiment: when the animals were blindfolded, they did not stop orienting themselves in the environment. When the same thing was repeated with the ears, the mice began to bump into the walls and objects in the room.

Bats bring undoubted benefits to gardening and farming. In the dark, when the birds are inactive, they massively destroy not only pests, but also small rodents. Read our articles about these mysterious animals and what is them.

How do mice see in the dark?

How do bats navigate? In the dark? What sounds do bats make? Amazing Ability bats to fly and forage without the participation of vision was revealed after using sensitive sensors managed to write ultrasonic signals emitted by animals during flight.

The ultrasound of bats, which is inaudible to the human ear, is reflected from surrounding objects within a radius of 15 meters, returned to the animal, collected by the auricle and analyzed by the inner ear. Animal hearing is subtle.

Nutrition

flying mammals have their own food preferences. Based on which product the animal is favorite, they distinguish:

• insectivores;
• carnivorous;
• fruit-eating or vegetarian;
• fish-eating mice;
• vampires.

Read interesting article about how and how mice hunt in nature.

Dream

Sleep representatives of bats prefer upside down. With the claws of their hind legs, they cling to a horizontal bar or a branch of a tree, press their wings to the body and fall asleep. Why do bats sleep upside down (upside down)? Sitting they do not sleep: weak the bones of the lower extremities do not withstand many hours of stress on them while sleeping.

Sleeping bats, sensing danger, spread their wings, unclench their hind claws and fly away without wasting time getting up from a lying or sitting position.

reproduction

How do bats breed and are born? Before hibernation animals open the mating season (?). A few months after mating 1-2 mice appear who are breastfed by their mother for 2 weeks.

cubs bat, are under guardianship mothers 3 weeks, after which they begin an independent life. Ask how long bats live, there is evidence that bats can live up to 30 years.

Exotic next door

Interesting facts about bats, see the video below:

September 21 marks one of the most unusual environmental holidays - International Bat Night. The purpose of the holiday is to draw people's attention to the problem of protecting and popularizing these animals. In Europe, the night of bats has been celebrated for almost 10 years, and in Russia it has been held since 2003.

On the day of the holiday of bats, AiF.ru collected several interesting facts about bats.

1. Bats belong to the order of bats. There are over a thousand species of these small winged animals. Among all mammals, only bats are capable of active flight, while flying squirrels do not fly - they glide from a great height.

Photo: www.globallookpress.com

2. Bats lead night image life, and during the day they sleep upside down, falling into a stupor. They settle on trees in forests, as well as in caves and attics of houses. At the same time, mice do not like loneliness and usually live with relatives. Separate colonies of bats can number up to several million animals.

3. Mice usually do not fly as fast as birds, although the Brazilian folded lip can reach speeds of up to 100 km / h.

4. Most bats eat insects, but some also prey on birds, lizards and frogs. Some species eat fruits.

One small bat can eat up to 600 mosquitoes in an hour. In terms of the weight of a person, such a portion will be equal to 20 pizzas. At the same time, bats are not obese. The metabolism of these creatures is very fast - they can completely digest a portion of bananas, mangoes or berries in 20 minutes.

5. Mice are not blind at all, they see very well, but for orientation in space they use not vision, but ultrasonic echolocation. Mice make sounds that are not audible to the human ear, and catch the echo reflected from objects. They are also able to communicate with each other using a squeak, have their own language and even sing songs at high frequencies.

6. Bats have long been considered mysterious and sinister creatures, as they settle in places that people are afraid of, appear only after dark and disappear at dawn. With wings like those of bats, dragons, demons and demons were often depicted. The gargoyle statues that sit on the facades of Gothic cathedrals have the same wings. And in the novel "Dracula" by Bram Stoker, vampires for the first time began to turn into bats.

7. In fact, bats of the vampire subfamily, which feed on blood, are not found in Europe. They live in Central and South America. Vampire mice drink the blood of large animals and birds, but sometimes they can also attack sleeping people. They cannot fast for more than 2 days. Vampires find their prey using special infrared receptors, and can also hear the breath of the victim.

Photo: www.globallookpress.com

8. Vampire bites are usually painless, thanks to the anesthetics found in mice's saliva. Their saliva also contains enzymes that prevent blood clotting. Therefore, the wound may continue to bleed even after the vampire has already "fed up".

9. Many species of bats have been listed in the Red Book due to human activities. They have become rare due to the destruction of their habitats and deforestation. Not last role superstitions, fears and conjectures play in the disappearance of mice, because of which people seek to get rid of these harmless, in general, animals. In order to protect the mouse population, many countries have signed international agreement on the protection of bats.

10. Bats are not dangerous or aggressive. Those animals that live in our country feed on mosquitoes and other insects. If a mouse flew into your window, try not to harm it, carefully catch it and release it into the wild. IN winter time years, it is better to give her to specialists, because she herself may not find shelter and die.

Photo: www.globallookpress.com

11. The weight of the smallest bat - the pig-bearer - is 2 g, and the largest individuals of the golden-crowned fox can weigh up to 1600 g. The wingspan of these mammals is from 15 to 170 cm. The weight of newborn bats is a quarter of the mother's weight.

12 Bats Can Change Their Temperature own body in the range of almost 50 degrees. When they are not hunting, their metabolism slows down significantly, and warm-blooded animals can freeze to the point of icicles.

13. It is difficult for bats to take off from the ground, so they choose places to rest from where they can rush down. That is why these animals spend most of their leisure time hanging upside down.

Photo: www.globallookpress.com

14. Australian Aborigines and Buddhists consider the bat a sacred animal. In China, these mammals represent good luck and happiness. The words "bat" and "happiness" sound the same in Chinese.

15. Scientists from the University of Queensland found poison in the saliva of bats, which turned out to be a powerful thrombolytic. It can be used to create drugs against high pressure and stroke. The poison is absolutely harmless to humans and has a similar effect to cryotherapy.

16. Bats help farmers get rid of harmful insects. Last year, US researchers estimated that these animals save US farmers about $3.7 billion a year. In addition, bats pollinate many plant species. Bats are sometimes even called the "keepers of tequila", because bats distribute agave seeds, on the basis of which the traditional Mexican alcoholic drink is made.

Bats are important to various ecosystems around the world. Often people treat them with prejudice and fear them. Let's take a moment and appreciate the charming side of these little animals. And 25 of the cutest types of bats will help us with this.

Bats are mysterious and misunderstood creatures. They are frequent heroes of the dark and scary stories and myths. They have accumulated a bad reputation for centuries. But in fact, bats are vital members of ecosystems around the world, acting as natural pest control methods, as well as helping to pollinate plants and disperse seeds. While some species may look a bit creepy, other types of bats are downright adorable. We've rounded up 25 of the cutest types of bats 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, loves the warmth of the deserts. This bat can be found in the Sonoran and Mojave deserts where they feed on things like crickets, grasshoppers and moths. The California leaf-nosed bat is an expert in flight and maneuver.

White leaf-bearing

The species is distinguished from most bats by its charming white color and yellow ears and nose. The white leaf-bearer is only 5 cm long. During roosting, they are located along the edges of large leaves, where they make structures in the form of a tent. This technique protects them from bad weather and predators while they are resting.

Indian flying fox

This species is one of the largest among bats, with a wingspan of 120-150 cm. flying fox can fly from 14 to 65 km, so its importance for the wide distribution of seeds and pollination should not be underestimated.

Large brown leather

Cute leather with wonderful name. This species is found in North America, Central America and northernmost South America. They are of great benefit to people, destroying pests such as moths, beetles and.

Pygmy epaulette fruit bat

This funny and cute species reaches only 7-9 cm in length. Living in Africa, they feed on small fruits, nectar and pollen.

horseshoe bats

This family of bats amazing shapes skin around the nose and rather large ears. They are insect eaters. Horseshoes use their ears for echolocation and their wide wings for extra agile flight while chasing prey.

brown earflaps

This species of European bat also has a particularly long ears with characteristic folds at the bottom. But even with those ears, this species relies more on its eyesight. The brown earflap mainly feeds on moths, which it finds among the leaves and bark of trees.

Striped yellow-eared leaf-bearer

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-bearers has sharply decreased due to human intrusion into its habitat.

mediterranean horseshoe bat

The Mediterranean horseshoe bat, which is listed in the IUCN Red List, continues the list of the 25 cutest bat species. They live in warm, wooded areas, especially with a lot of caves and water sources. There they hunt butterflies and insects.

White-bellied arrowhead

The white-bellied arrowhead lives in the desert regions of Morocco through all of Egypt and the Arabian Peninsula. It has adapted well to arid and inhospitable regions. The white-bellied arrowhead is the first enemy for scorpions, on which it usually feeds. He is immune to their poisons.

small bat

This European look is one of those that like to live near rivers and streams. The lesser bat hunts in forests and wetlands for water midges and other insects.

Big false vampire

The species is found in South Asia and South-East Asia in humid tropical forests. Behind charming appearance this bat hides an exceptional predator. A large false vampire can eat anything from large insects to lizards, frogs, rats, small birds and even other species of small bats. Surprisingly, he can detect and catch prey, a mouse or a frog in total darkness and without the use of echolocation.

Small false vampire

Mini versions of the larger false vampires. Instead of large prey, they feed on insects. Lesser false vampires live in groups of 3-30 individuals in crevices, caves, and hollow trees.

Large fruit-eating leaf-bearer

This is a fairly common species in South and Central America. On the IUCN Red List, this species is considered one of those that are at minimal risk of extinction.

Red hairytail

This proud female red hairytail guards her three tiny babies. Such hugs keep the right amount of warmth. Very often, females of this species give birth to twins or even two pairs of twins (fours).

Pig-nosed bat

Another tiny species on our list of the 25 cutest bat species, which is only 2.5-3.3 cm long. The pig-nosed bat is the smallest of its kindred species and possibly also the world's smallest mammal.

Malayan short-nosed fruit bat

Native to South and Southeast Asia and Indonesia, this bat loves mango dishes. She also eats other fruits, but prefers mangoes. They also eat nectar and pollen like other fruit bats and are essential for plant pollination.

spotted earflap

Very cute tiny bats with spots. The spotted ear bat has the largest ears compared to its body size. It primarily preys on grasshoppers and butterflies.

gray hairytail

This species can be found throughout North and South America. It got its name from the gray color of its coat. The gray hairytail is a loner, sleeps in trees and preys primarily on moths.

Spectacled flying fox

These bats live in the forested and tropical regions of Northern Australia. Their diet consists of tropical fruits and flowers. Babies stay close to their mother for up to 5 months. They then join other juveniles in "baby trees" where they continue to learn how to fly.

Southern Lesser Yellow-eared Broadnosed

This species lives in the Atlantic Forest in southern Brazil and eastern Paraguay. Apart from being a very cute species, very little is known about it.

Sulawe fruit bat

The Sulawesi fruit bat is a well-known lowland species of the Sulawesi sub-region. locals consider this baby a carrier of good luck. Like other species that feed on fruits, this one also makes a significant contribution to the ecosystem.

Pale spear

This species of Central and South America 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

The Gambian epaulette fruit bat ends the list of the 25 cutest bat species. Living mainly in Africa, they feed on figs, guava, mangoes and banana trees. They also use sight and smell, rather than echolocation, to search for food.

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The days when bats were considered vampires and messengers of the devil have not sunk into oblivion. Many people are still afraid of winged creatures, believing that a creature the size of a kitten is able to attack and drink all the blood.. Reasonable people, who are not afraid of the animal, actively argue whether this miracle of nature is useful or harmful.

There is no doubt that this is a miracle. The only flying mammal on earth, this fact already makes the animal special. Yes, and the evolutionary stage of a bat is much higher than other winged creatures (feathered, insects).

General concepts and appearance

In addition to the name "mouse", the air and ground representatives of the family no longer have anything in common.. They have absolutely different origin, structure, lifestyle. Winged beauties originally from the order of bats, and they were named mice for some external resemblance to a rodent and the ability to make sounds similar to a mouse squeak.

The main part of the body is occupied by wings. Without them, the animal will be a miniature, short-necked creature with a slightly elongated muzzle, very similar to a land mouse. To some, the appearance of a bat seems cute, someone is driven to shiver by a strangely shaped nose, large ears, a large mouth with pronounced sharp teeth and incomprehensible head growths.

Of all the varieties of the flying family, the fruit dog of the fruit bat genus is perhaps the cutest.. She has large, expressive eyes and a "fox" muzzle. white look flyers are equipped with a growth on the nose in the form of a horn, which makes the olfactory organ look like a petal. This structure is not accidental: the nostrils, set forward, subtly and quickly capture the slightest smells.

The bulldog mouse also has an unusual appearance. The muzzle is provided with a transverse fold of cartilaginous tissue, through the nose from ear to ear. This "roller" connects the ends of the auricles, thereby making them larger and hearing more perfect. The ushan mouse has simply huge ears compared to the body, which makes its echolocation capabilities perfect. By the way, it is this mouse that belongs to the vampire order and really feeds on blood.. But not human and not in frightening volumes, so it’s still not worth making a deadly monster out of it.

External features do not just create the appearance of the animal, they speak of its food preferences. Fruit flyers do not need powerful locating devices, but they do have prominent nostrils. After all, they get food exclusively by smell.

The ability to move through the air in winged animals is fundamentally different from the bird's aircraft. Birds have a light cellular bone structure, lung air sacs and a special feather structure with different functions. The family of bats does not have such complex structures . Their wings are leathery membranous formations that open like a cloak, catch the air flow and this helps the animal to “push off” it and soar.

Such a device for the summer and the structure is special. So, the limbs of the mouse are not just paws, but the backbone for the wing: the shoulder is short, the forearm and four fingers are long so that the span area is larger. From the very base of the neck to the fingertips, except for the thumb, a skin-fibrous "mantle" is stretched. The big one has a function. It is equipped with a tenacious claw and serves to capture.

Bat sense organs

During the day, the animal almost does not see, so at this time he sleeps. In the structure of his eyes, there are no cone receptors responsible for daytime vision.. But there are rod receptors, which makes the animal vigilant at dusk and at night. But many species have skin folds in front of their eyes. This is another fact in favor of the assertion that the mouse moves in space, after all, not thanks to vision, but with the help of echolocation. Fruit bats have day vision, so it is quite possible to meet them during daylight hours.

It is difficult for a person to imagine how one can fly, catch prey and find their way to a nest without eyes, but for mice this is a common thing. The animal emits an ultrasound that humans cannot perceive. It is reflected from objects around and returns to the owner. The radius of the wave is 15 m. Returning, the information passes into the ear and is processed inside the hearing organ. This is the basic concept of echolocation.. which, by the way, people used to create scanner devices sea ​​depths. The same way of interacting with environment of the entire world of mammals, only dolphins still have it.

Russian residents of the flying family are small, up to 5 cm in the body and up to 20 cm in the wingspan. Their weight is only 2-5 g. Ushans, pig-noses and white species also do not differ in size. The pig-nosed mouse is generally considered the smallest mammal in the world.

planet. There are giants. They can weigh up to 1 kg, and a wingspan of up to 150 cm with a body of 40 cm. Such giants are found in the bat family of fruit bats, subspecies South American false vampire.

The flight of a bat is not too fast, up to 20 km/h. Although there is a record holder - the Brazilian folded lip. It develops 100 km/h. Mice flying away to spend the winter (there are such species) are able to fly more than 300 km.

It is inconvenient for winged creatures to walk on the ground. Their native element is air. True, the vampire subspecies has a stronger femur and, if necessary, is able to move on the surface, relying on the pads of the paws. But the bats can't do that. Their ground movements are clumsy and awkward.

Diet and sleep patterns of winged animals

Food habits depend on the species, which is why mice are divided into categories:

Insectivores.

Vegetarians (fruit eaters).

Carnivores.

Fish-eating.

Vampires.

Bats sleep upside down. With claws hooked on a suitable crossbar, they cover themselves with a cloak of wings and hang in clusters. As soon as the animal senses danger, it spreads its wings and flies away without delay by getting up and taking a vertical position..

Photos

Bat breeding

Before winter sleep the mating season begins for the animals. It takes several months to bear offspring.. The female feeds the baby with milk for 2 weeks, but surrounds with guardianship and care for longer, up to a month. There are 1-2 cubs in a litter. According to some reports, a bat can live for three decades.

Until now, this animal remains an unusual creature for human understanding, mysterious and interesting. It will be studied for a long time, most likely, there are many surprising things that we do not know about these nocturnal beauties.

Winged animals can be found almost anywhere in the world. They have not mastered only the polar regions, the tundra and especially remote oceanic islands. In some island territories, they are the only representatives of mammals, since capable of long non-stop flights above the water surface.

The largest number of bats, by total And species diversity, lives in humid hot areas: up to several hundred in the basins tropical rivers like the Congo and the Amazon.

IN northern zones Taiga, there are only two or three species of bats.

40 species nest on the territory of Russia. Number of individuals per square kilometer is 50-100 in middle lane and increases to 1000 Central Asia.

Favorite places to live

Where do bats live? Since these are animals of nocturnal and twilight activity, they need a secluded and safe day shelter.

Depending on the size and structural features of the limbs, it directly depends on where the bat lives. These animals choose the most suitable ready-made natural shelters for them - caves and rock crevices, recesses in the walls of cliffs and slopes of dunes, hollows and burrows left by their inhabitants.

Some tropical species build themselves impromptu huts-umbrellas from large leaves, they gnaw out personal recesses-niches in bunches of palm fruits or climb into the voids between the nodes of bamboo trunks.

Human intervention in nature destroys the natural habitats of bats; many of their species are becoming rare, disappearing. However, the adaptability of the bat to the habitat is very high and, in the neighborhood of people, bats try to discover new shelters similar to their favorite caves, burrows, hollows and crevices.

In Egypt they mastered the inner labyrinths of the great pyramids, in worked-out mining - abandoned mines and adits, in cities and villages they inhabit attics, cellars, cellars, haystacks, woodpile, they make their way behind the shutters and under the window frames.

Reference: Representatives of most species prefer to settle in large colonies.

To attract bats in the conditions of gardening and farming on trees, at a height of at least 3 meters, hanging special houses from planks with a secluded lower entrance - a narrow slot, similar to inverted mailboxes.

Photo

Adaptation to the characteristics of the environment

Chiroptera creatures show amazing adaptability to the most extreme temperature conditions. They withstand both an increase in body temperature up to 40 degrees, and a decrease in it to zero.

Often they become unwanted neighbors of a person, settling in attics and balconies of houses and apartments. Some people do not consider it necessary to kick out guests, but such a neighborhood has more disadvantages than advantages. If you decide from them, do not forget that some of their species are listed in the Red Book and their destruction is prohibited. Therefore, be patient and achieve a peaceful relocation of bats to more suitable places for them.

Useful video

In the video below you can see something about the habitation of bats:

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