We are talking good about bats today. After reading this post, you will fall in love with this animal and understand how important it is for Environment.
This strange and mysterious scary animal actually milks its babies, Yes! its a mammal!
Bats give births, do not lay eggs and their population growth rate is extremely slow. On average, bats give birth to only one baby a year.
There are three types of bats:
Those who eat fruits, vegetables, Collect flower nectars (Fruit Bats)
Those who eat insects, fish and small animals (Micro Bats)
And the ones who suck the blood of living things (Vampire Bats)
Don’t panic! There are only three species of blood-sucking bats and they are found only in South America.
There are about 200 species of fruit-eating bats, while insectivorous bats make up 70% of all bats.
About 1441 species of bats have been discovered so far. It is believed that in every one in five mammals is a bat
.Bat family is the second largest family of mammals, while the first major family is Rodent family. Science has placed all these families of bats in an Order called chiropetra (like Cleopatra 😁).
Bats like to live in places that are very dark, hidden, and dim. That’s why they are found in holes under bridges, roofs etc Where as many bats just rest by hanging from fruit trees. Most of These bats are found in tropical regions but their species are found all over the world. 52 generations of them have been discovered in Pakistan. They are not found in extremely cold glacial regions such as Antarctica.
Fruit bats are actually the largest species of bats. Contrary to their big & dangerous look, they are more scared of humans and stay away. In fact, they only want to eat fruit. It is said that if all bats were killed, chocolate would disappear from the world. Yes! Chocolate is actually made from cocoa beans. The flowers of this tree are pollinated by fruit bats. Not just chocolate but cashews, mangoes and bananas will also say us good bye. Because the pollination of the flowers of all these trees depends on fruit bats.
a vampire bat, what would you do if you see it?
Vampire bats actually only suck the blood of domestic animals. Sucking human blood is not in their menu until one sleeps with cattles. Their mouths and stomach are specially made for this purpose. If they keep sucking blood from a sleeping person for hours. He will not know at all. What they do is make a very thin cut on the skin from where the bleeding starts. At the top they put their tongue. The tongue is made up of tiny pits like long pipes that carry blood upwards. At the same time, they know that due to platelets in the blood, the wound freezes quickly, They keep adding their saliva to the wound to keep the blood thin. Their stomach only digests red blood cells from the blood and expels the rest. But still, there is no need to panic. Such bats are only found in South American continent.
Micro Bats, Now these are the common bats we see often. They are spread all over the world. They eat insects, eat innumerable. So much… its been estimated that an ordinary bat eats 600 to 1000 mosquitoes an hour. If they fly all night, Imagine how much mosquitos will be gone. They eat about 50% of Their body weight. They clean farms from bugs voluntarily. Farmers with large farms in the United States use bats instead of sprays. And save an estimated 23 billion dollar a year. If mosquitos have grown up crazy in an area, it may be due to the fact that the number of bats have decreased there. Many species of bats are fish eaters and even catch small birds.
The wings of a bat are actually membranes. its wings are very verstile; if it falls into the water it can swim, if it is on the ground it can jump and take a flight, it can hang from the rocks above and cover itself like a sheet. Inside its wings are long veins of blood vessels and muscles that provide tremendous strength to them.
Bats can fly back and forth more than birds. they can take a U-turn or maneuver at once. That’s why if you ever wave your hand in front of a flying bat, it will suddenly turn in any direction. Their wings also act as a net as It spreads them on its prey.
Bats are not blind! Yes!! their eyes have a purpose. They see normally like other animals but nature has endowed them with a special weapon, it’s their sound! and to recognize things by it. Bats make a special kind of sound that we do not hear due to different frequency. This sound echoes back to the bat’s ears after hitting something. The brain of the bat makes an outline of the object with that sound and the bat knows what is in front of it. This method is called Echo Location.This is how submarines work. Not all bats make such sound out of their mouth, but some do. The noses of such bats are like leaves so they are also called leaf nose bats. This is not a normal chirping sound of a bat, but a special sound. Not all bats do ecology, mostly nocturnal do.
Bats do not urinate by mouth! (a common myth in some countries) In fact, fruit-eating bats suck the juice of a fruit and take its crushed peel out of its mouth. It looks like dung, but it’s actually the skin and the fiber that it can’t digest. Bats regularly excrete and its excertion is called guano. It is one of the best fertilizers in the world, which is why it is collected from caves in Asian countries like indonesia, Philippines etc, and sold in markets. It’s a multi-million dollar business. It contains large amount of nitrogen, phosphate and potassium that plants need. Since bats can fly very far and excrete on trees and plants, they add this natural fertilizer to the plants and increase the plants fertility tremendously. Fruit bats cant digest seeds, so they are also excreted along with natural fertilizer.
Bat guano is also sold online and in local markets. its a multi million dollar business
Thus fruit-eating bats grow forests and microbats eat insects to restore the health of the trees.
Did Bats spread corona virus?
Corona is a whole family of viruses and lives in many animals. It is being said that bat Soup was cause of pendamic. Many years ago, Ebola broke out in the African country of Congo, with bats being blamed, but no concrete evidence was found. The question raises here why those markets were the origin of virus where bat meat is sold? Infact the stomach of a bat cannot digest many viruses and they remain inside its body. so there is high chance for them to transfer to human body if consumed.
Bats are known to spread Rabies. First of all, bats stay away from humans and the bite rate is less than 1%. Secondly, even if they do bite, the chances of getting rabies are less than 1%. 99% of rabies in the world is caused by dog bites. And very few people get the disease.\
It doesn’t like to fly into your ears or hair but may sit on your chest accidently if you were standing in their way. If that happens, there is no need to panic. Grab it by the back of the neck and blow it in the air again and wash your hands. Its neck is very small and it will not attack you by twisting its head. It is better to stay away from this animal.
Bats are our eco-friendly animals and because of them our crops and fruit trees are inhabited. Their survival is our survival. These free financiers work for us day and night. Don’t kill them unnecessarily. They protect you from mosquitoes and protect your crops from pests. If they dont eat millions of mosquitoes every year, millions of people would die from malaria, Zika and dengue every year.
Why do bats hang upside down? they hang upside down so that when needed, they fall from there and land directly into the air.
Bats that live in cold regions often hibernate. The longest hibernate to date is that of a bat slept for 344 days.
Their average age is 30 years.
Bats are not just black. This is Hondrus White bat. The smallest bat in the Central American country. Hondrus bat are found in large leafy plants. they chew the center of plant leaf from below, turn it into a round tent and hang underneath it.
Some insects, such as moths, also deceive crocodiles. when they see a bat, they make more and more echoes which make the bats unable to understand and they cannot catch them.
Bat box: such boxes are placed outside of houses so that bats can stay there and kill insects specially mosquitos for free!
Humans can also learn echo location from bats. This is Daniel Kish who lives in California. Daniel, who is blind, can feel things by making a special sound out of his mouth through the echo location like bats. he makes ticking noises and recognizes things. Not only that. Daniel also rides a bicycle. His videos are available on YouTube.