Bat
hideSee article
Bats are mammals in the order Chiroptera (pronounced /kaɪˈrɒptərə/). The forelimbs of bats are developed as wings, making them the only mammals naturally capable of flight (opposed to other mammals, such as flying squirrels, gliding possums and colugos, that glide only for a distance). Bats do not flap arms like birds, instead they flap spread out hands where their fingers are very long and covered with a thin membrane or patagium. Chiroptera comes from two Greek words cheir (χειρ) "hand" and pteron (πτερον) "wing."
There is an estimated total of about 1,100 species worldwide, which is about 20 percent of all classified mammal species. About 70 percent of bats are insectivores. Most of the rest are frugivores, with a few species being carnivorous. Bats are present throughout most of the world and perform a vital ecological role by pollinating flowers, and eat various plants to dispere their seeds. Many tropical plants depend for their seeds to be distributed entirely by bats.
Bats range in size from Kitti's Hog-nosed Bat measuring 29–33 mm (1.14–1.30 in) in length and 2 g (0.07 oz) in mass, to the Giant golden-crowned flying fox which has a wing span of 1.5 m (4 ft 11 in) and weighs approximately 1.2 kg (3 lb).
For more information about Bat, read the full article at
Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.
News tagged with bats
Sucker-footed bats don't use suction after all (w/ Video)
Dec 14, 2009 |
4.3 / 5 (3) |
0
There are approximately 1,200 species of bats worldwide. Of that total, only six are known to roost with their heads pointed upward. Investigators did not know why, because they knew next to nothing about ...
We're off then: The evolution of bat migration
Nov 20, 2009 |
4.5 / 5 (2) |
0
(PhysOrg.com) -- Not just birds, but also a few species of bats face a long journey every year. Researchers at Princeton University in the U.S. and at the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology in Radolfzell, ...
The largest bat in Europe inhabited northeastern Spain more than 10,000 years ago
Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils
Oct 29, 2009 |
not rated yet |
0
Spanish researchers have confirmed that the largest bat in Europe, Nyctalus lasiopterus, was present in north-eastern Spain during the Late Pleistocene (between 120,000 and 10,000 years ago). The Greater Noctul ...
Scientists find successful way to reduce bat deaths at wind turbines
Sep 28, 2009 |
3.7 / 5 (3) |
0
Scientists at the University of Calgary have found a way to reduce bat deaths from wind turbines by up to 60 percent without significantly reducing the energy generated from the wind farm. The research, recently published ...
Lone male bat rewrites the record books
Sep 21, 2009 |
not rated yet |
0
(PhysOrg.com) -- One of the rarest bats in the UK - the Bechstein's bat (Myotis bechsteinii) - has been found at its most westerly site ever recorded in the UK by a PhD student at the University of Bristol.
Experts watch health of bat colonies in wake of white-nose syndrome
Sep 18, 2009 |
5 / 5 (1) |
0
The tiny male bat didn't expect to wind up in a biologist's hand when he set out in search of a nighttime snack along Box Canyon Creek.
Great Tit Turns Out to be a Killer
Sep 10, 2009 |
4.7 / 5 (21) |
12
(PhysOrg.com) -- The Great Tit is an aggressive songbird found in Britain, continental Europe, parts of Northern Africa, and much of Asia. It is believed to survive mostly on seeds, nuts, fruit, insects, beetles, ...
Bat Love Songs Decoded (w/ Video)
Aug 25, 2009 |
4.5 / 5 (2) |
0
Love songs aren't only for soft rock FM stations - they're also used by romantic bats, and researchers at Texas A&M University and the University of Texas at Austin are believed to be the first to decode the ...
Bizarre walking bat has ancient heritage
Jul 29, 2009 |
4 / 5 (4) |
3
A bizarre New Zealand bat that is as much at home walking four-legged on the ground as winging through the air had an Australian ancestor 20 million years ago with the same rare ability, a new study has found.
There is more to bats' vision than meets the eye
Jul 28, 2009 |
5 / 5 (1) |
0
The eyes of nocturnal bats possess two spectral cone photoreceptor types for daylight and colour vision. Reporting in the open-access, peer-reviewed journal PLoS ONE, scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Br ...
Can radar be used to deter bats from approaching wind turbines?
Jul 16, 2009 |
5 / 5 (1) |
1
(PhysOrg.com) -- Large numbers of bats are killed by colliding with turbine blades or by experiencing sudden depressurisation immediately adjacent to the blade.
Robo-bats with metal muscles may be next generation of remote control flyers
Jul 07, 2009 |
4.5 / 5 (11) |
8
Tiny flying machines can be used for everything from indoor surveillance to exploring collapsed buildings, but simply making smaller versions of planes and helicopters doesn't work very well. Instead, researchers ...
Scientists find a biological 'fountain of youth' in new world bat caves
Jun 30, 2009 |
3.9 / 5 (31) |
36
Scientists from Texas are batty over a new discovery which could lead to the single most important medical breakthrough in human history -- significantly longer lifespans. The discovery, featured on the cover of the July ...
Scientists find tiny new bat species: Geneva museum
Jun 24, 2009 |
4 / 5 (2) |
0
Scientists have identified a new species of bat weighing just five grammes in the Comoros island archipelago off eastern Africa, the Natural History Museum in Geneva said on Wednesday.
To protect threatened bat species, street lights out
Jun 18, 2009 |
not rated yet |
0
Slow-flying, woodland bats -- which tend to be at greater risk from extinction than their speedier kin—really don't like the light, according to a study published online in Current Biology, a Cell Press publication. Lesser ...
