Transcript BATS! - PEER

BATS!
Stuff you never knew about Bats
Is it a bird…?
• Are bats featherless birds?
If you said NO, you are
100% CORRECT!
• We now know that bats are mammals,
just like people.
• But bats are very special mammals. They
are the only mammals that can fly.
How do we know they are
mammals?
• Bats are warm
blooded
• Bats nurse their
babies with milk
• Bats have fur
Where in the world are Bats
found?
• Bats live on all continents except Antarctica.
• However, they are many more bats and
species of bats where the weather is warm,
like near the equator or the southern United
States.
Bat Wings
• Bat wings are made of two
thin layers of skin
stretched over the bat's
arm and fingers. Bats have
a thumb and fingers, just
like people!
• Bats use their wings for
more than just flying, they
can wrap their wings
around fruit or an insect
when eating.
Bat Senses
• Are bats really blind?
NO!
• Bats can see perfectly well during the day.
The only problem is, they hunt at night!
• To make up for this, bats have the best
hearing of all land mammals.
Echolocation
• Instead of relying on their sense of
sight to navigate in the dark and find
food, bats make rapid high-pitched
squeaks called "ultrasounds". These
sounds are too high for most people to
hear.
Echolocation
• When the sound hits
an object an echo
comes back. The bat
can identify an object
by the sound of the
echo. They can even
tell the size, shape
and texture of a tiny
insect from its echo.
Bat Video
Let’s take a look at some bats!
Echolocation
• Many bats eat while they
are flying, and this makes it
difficult for some bats to
make the squeaks out of
their mouths.
A bat with nose leaves
• Therefore, many bats use
echolocation out their
noses. These bats have
special flaps and folds of
skin on their faces called
"nose leaves“.
Species of Bats
• The world's smallest mammal is
the bumblebee bat weighing
about as much as a penny.
• The Flying Fox, with a wingspan
of 78 inches, is the world’s
largest bat.
• There are over 900 different
species of bats -- they make up
one fifth of the world's
mammals.
• Bats are grouped into two main
groups: megabats and
microbats.
Micro Bats
• Micro bats are small bats that eat
insects, blood, fish, lizards, birds and
nectar.
• Micro bats can echolocate, and account
for most the bats found all over the
world.
Mega Bats
• Mega bats are large fruit
eating bats, also known as
flying foxes.
• They eat fruit and live in
tropical regions of the
world.
• Many important agricultural
plants, like bananas,
mangoes and cashews rely
on bats for pollination and
seed dispersal.
Vampire Bats!
• The vampire bat is the only bat (and the
only mammal) that eats only blood.
Vampire Bats
Is it true that vampire bats suck
your blood?
If you said NO,
congratulations!
• Contrary to popular belief, a vampire
bat does not suck blood from its victim,
but makes an incision and laps the
blood up, which doesn't clot because of
anti-coagulants in the bat's saliva.
Bat Behavior
• Bats hunt and eat
at night and sleep
during the day.
• Therefore, bats are
called…
Nocturnal!
Bat Behavior
• How do bats sleep?
If you said upside
down, give yourself a
pat on the back!
• They are very
sociable, as they
usually sleep together
in large groups.
Where do Bats roost?
• Some bats may find old
mines and set up their
colony there.
• Tiny woolly bats of West
Africa live in the large webs
of spiders.
• The Honduran white bat
cuts large leaves to make
"tents" that protect its
colonies from jungle rains.
Honduran white bats
What is one place we are
forgetting?
Bat Caves!
• Some caves may be home to thousands of bats.
• The largest bat colony in the world is in Bracken
Cave, Texas. During the summer, this cave is home
to as many as 20 MILLION Mexican free-tailed bats.
• These bats eat 250 tons of insects every night.
City Bats?
• Bats that might have typically lived in caves have
begun to adapt to urban life by modifying their
behavior to live in man made structures in the city.
• The largest urban colony is under the Congress
Avenue Bridge in Austin, Texas, home to about 1.5
million bats.
Bat Babies
• After hibernation, the female bats start
having baby bats. Do you know what they are
called?
Bat pups!
• Bats usually only have one baby at a time,
but sometimes they have twins!
• The pups are tiny when born, but can usually
fly a month after birth.
Bat Babies
• The pups are born with strong legs and
claws because they have to hang on to the
mother when she's roosting and to the cave
when she's not there.
• If the baby looses its grip and falls, it will
die.
Mother bat taking care of
babies
Bat Enemies
• Predators of bats include Great Horned
Owls, hawks, falcons, raccoons, house cats,
and snakes.
• But who is the greatest predator of all?
Humans, because they destroy
the bats’ habitat.
Bats and Rabies
• Less than ½ of 1% of bats carry rabies.
• Fewer than 40 people in the United
States are known to have contracted
rabies from bats during the past 40
years.
• Far more people are killed by dog
attacks, bee stings, or lightning than
rabies from bats.
How dangerous are they?
vs.
Given: 2 people die in the U.S. each year from bat bites
Given: 400,000 people in the United States die each year
due to smoking-related illnesses
How many times greater chance that a person in a
morgue has died from smoking than from being bitten
by a rabid bat?
Should we fear cigarettes or bats more?
Hint: Compare the number of people who die from bat
bites to those who die from smoking. Make sure to
reduce!
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