Bats inhabit caves, rock crevices in mountains, caves in trees, as well as crevices, ceilings and partitions of old buildings. Some fruit bats from tropical and subtropical regions will also later hide in the leaves of palm and banana trees. . It turns out that this is the result of long-term evolution and is part of their lifestyle habits and defensive instincts.
Flying mammals
They have unique sleeping postures
Flying mammals
People often use the term "birds and animals". "" is used to describe the characteristics of birds and beasts, but this statement is a bit too generalized, because not all birds can fly, such as penguins, ostriches, emus, kiwis, etc. Likewise, not all beasts can walk, like whales in the sea. Bats are stillmore unique. They are mammals, but they cannot walk on the ground like ordinary land mammals. However, they can fly in the sky like birds, and some species of bats are also flight experts. relatively narrow places. In the animal kingdom, bats are the only mammals capable of flapping their wings and flying in the sky. Although bats do not have feathers and wings like birds and their flight ability is not as good as that of birds, their forelimbs are highly developed. Their upper arms, forearms, pasterns and finger bones are all particularly long and there is a. layer between them. The thin, soft and strong hairy membranes are connected and extend over the sides, hind limbs and tail. It is the unique flying organ of the bat, which we call bats. The way the batsris, a particular animal species, have evolved remains a mystery. But we can deduce from the skeletal characteristics of the bat that its bats evolved from its forelimbs. Additionally, scientists believe that bats' ability to fly didn't happen overnight. Their ancestors probably lived in trees. To catch flying insects or escape their enemies, they sometimes had to move quickly from one tree to another. In order to adapt to this kind of life, bats evolved slowly and gradually developed membranes on their forelimbs, which helped them glide through the air. Over a long period of time, these beneficial traits were passed down to future generations and continually strengthened, eventually transforming bats from gliding to flight.
Flying bats
According to research by zoologists, batss have not only undergone enormous changes in their body structure during the process of evolution, but they also have a special type of protein in their body that is specially designed for flight. Energy mitochondria also become more powerful, indicating that their cells' energy systems have also been improved. This overall evolution of bats' "indoor-outdoor coordination" allowed them to finally fly in the sky.
Unique sleeping postureNature has made the bat's forelimbs highly developed, developing into "wings" and allowing it to fly through the sky, but its hindlimbs are very short and weak and cannot support the body. to walk. Therefore, bats can only crawl slowly on their forelimbs, making them very clumsy. At the same time, because their hind legs are weakand their jumping power is almost zero, they cannot help their bodies fly away quickly like birds. Therefore, bats cannot take off from flat ground, they must climb to higher ground, It slides for a certain distance before it can fly. This is obviously not conducive to your own safety. If bats, like other mammals, build nests on the ground and lie there to rest, things will go very badly once a predator attacks. Because they cannot escape or take off quickly, they can only be captured and fall prey to predators. Nature selects those fittest to survive. The wisdom of bats lies in their self-awareness. They choose to live in high places rather than on the ground, and their sleeping methods are also unique. When they sleep and rest, they often use their emsocket. the sharp claws of the strongest hind limbs clung in space and hung the whole body upside down, the head turned downward. The advantage of sleeping upside down like this is that it can widen their field of vision; second, in the event of a disturbance, they can use the inertia of falling from a high place to quickly take off; third, bat skin is very durable; It's very uncomfortable. Sleeping upside down may prevent him from feeling this pain, because except for the back toes which hold objects, the rest of the body is surrounded by air, so you don't have any. worry about your body hitting hard objects or scratching you and your baby's precious wings.
The wonderful sleeping posture of bats
Also, bats are not covered in beautiful feathers like birds. When winter comes, bats go into hibernation by suspending themselveswhile hanging upside down. This can reduce contact. surface between the body and the wall of the cold and cold ceiling. During hibernation, the bat's wing membrane also plays an important role: it can wrap the bat's head and body, and the fine and dense hairs all over its body can insulate the body from the bat. cold outside air. Bats can thus spend the winter warm and safe!
Why can't bats jump and take off like other birds?
Bats are rodents and mammals.
Characteristics of bats:
1. Bats are bats, the second largest group of animals after rodents and the only mammal with the true ability to fly. Today there are 961 species divided into 185 genera and 19 families. With the exception of the polar regions and some islands in the ocean, elBats are distributed throughout the world, with the greatest number of bats found in tropical and subtropical regions. Most bats rest during the day and feed at night.
2. Bats are the only mammals capable of truly flying. Although they do not have feathers and wings like birds, and their flying ability is much worse than that of birds, their forelimbs are highly developed and their flying ability is much worse. arms and forearms The metacarpals, metacarpals and phalanges are all extremely long and a thin hairy layer of soft and hard skin running from the tips of the phalanges to the humerus, sides of the body, hind limbs and back. tail forms the bat's unique flight. organ, the bat.
3. The main natural enemies of cave bats are snakes, lizards, etc. ; natural enemies of arb batsOricoles (some fruit bats) are also some birds of prey and cats. Humans are another natural enemy of bats. For example, the Guam giant bat became extinct due to predation by the local population.
4. Bats are one of the most widespread and evolved groups of mammals in the world. Except those that are too far away in the Arctic, Antarctica and oceans, apart from the desert island, they use various terrestrial ecological environments on earth. In the process of evolving: they avoid competition with other land and sea mammals and fly in the sky. The highly evolved echolocation system allows bats to avoid competition with most birds in the air and take advantage of a unique ecological niche. – Dark sky.
First, you tell him that a bat is on all fours on the ground. If she wants to fly away like a birdau, its wings will open and resistance will be made. be awesome. If it doesn't make an initial jump like a bird, it must have altitude to make the necessary glide.
Bats belong to the order Chiroptera and are the second largest group in the animal kingdom, after rodents. After a long period of evolution, bats are the only mammals capable of true flight. There are 961 species of bats divided into 19 families, 185 genera, and they are distributed almost everywhere in the world, with the exception of some islands in the polar regions and oceans, especially in the tropics and subtropics, the number of bats is the greatest. Most bats rest during the day and come out to look for food at night. Flying through the night sky, attacking mosquitoes, moths and other insects. There are also some batsris that eat fruit or suck the blood of other animals.
Bats inhabit caves, rock crevices in mountains, caves in trees, as well as crevices, ceilings and partitions of old buildings. Some fruit bats in tropical and subtropical regions also hide under palm and banana trees. . If you see bats at rest, you will definitely notice that their sleeping posture is very strange. Other animals sleep standing up, but they sleep upside down, with their heads down. Why is this? It turns out that this is the result of long-term evolution and is part of their lifestyle habits and defensive instincts.
Flying Mammals
People often use the term "birds and beasts" to describe the characteristics of birds and beasts, but this statement is a bit too generalized, because birds do not are not all the birds in the world. Lhe species can fly, such as penguins, ostriches, emus, kiwis, etc. ; likewise, not all beasts of the species can walk, like whales in the ocean. Bats are even more unique. They are mammals, but they cannot walk on the ground like ordinary land mammals. However, they can fly in the sky like birds, and some species of bats are also flight experts. relatively narrow places. In the animal kingdom, bats are the only mammals capable of flapping their wings and flying in the sky.