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Bats have importance for 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 methods pest control, and also help pollinate plants and distribute 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 insects such as 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. In a day, the Indian 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
A cute leather man with a 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 wasps.
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 is a family of bats with amazingly shaped 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 species is one of those that love 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 Southeast Asia in humid tropical forests. Behind the charming appearance of 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 types 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 big booty they eat 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 perhaps also the most small mammal in the world.
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 earflap has a big ears compared to his body size. It primarily preys on grasshoppers and butterflies.
Bat - this is animal, which belongs to the group placental mammals, species of bats. On our planet, this is the only animal that can fly.
Many people often think that since an individual has wings and is able to move through the air, then it is a bird, but to bats this does not apply and they are representatives of the animal world. homeland of bats Central America. live here groups of bats that feed on flesh and blood.
That is why bats are associated in the representation of people with vampires. On the territory of our country, flying rodents have found shelter - leather, leaf-nosed. You can meet a night bat or a large earflap in your native open spaces.
In the photo, a bat is a big ushan
Bats do not tolerate harsh Russian winters, and therefore, from areas where frosts are strong and long, they fly to places where the climate is milder - its southern provinces or to the territory of Primorsky Krai.
The sizes of representatives of the order of bats are not large. It is rare to find an exotic species, for example, a false vampire, which reaches 40-50 cm in size, but more often these are animals the size of a sparrow - from 3-10 cm.
Incidentally, the indicated type of bats in fact, the largest of the order of bats, its wingspan is 80 cm, and its weight is more than 200 grams. The fur coat of bats is very soft and thick enough, it is painted on the abdomen of the animal in lighter gray tones and at the same time covers the entire body of the animal, except for the wings.
The color scheme in mice is quite monotonous and can be either gray, the color of a mouse, or brown. The structure of the muzzle resembles a reduced copy of a pig's snout with some elements of a mouse muzzle.
Many representatives on the head have huge ears, like a hare, and on the nose there is a horn resembling the nasal process of a rhinoceros. The front legs of bats have been transformed by nature into a kind of wings. The forelimbs of bats have a very interesting structure.
One finger of the animal, located on the front limb, ends with a sharp claw, curved. Their so-called "hands" are arranged in such a way that they start from the hind limbs, reach the forearm, smoothly pass into elongated fingers - this is a kind of rigid frame, on which a leather membrane is stretched.
Pictured is a bat in flight
The membrane serves as a wing for a flying animal. When it's cold, mice wrap themselves in an elastic membrane, like a cape. Webbed wings serve as a flying device. The wings move always synchronously with the limbs located behind.
The average speed that flying animals are capable of developing can range from 20 to 40 km / h. Flying animals are very nimble, and given that they sometimes move in complete darkness, the question involuntarily begs: “How do they do it?”.
Experts say that they see these creatures very poorly, and their picture is black and white, and echolocation allows them to quickly navigate in the dark - ultrasonic pulses reflected from objects are captured by the auricles of mice and they do not crash into obstacles.
Character and lifestyle
Bats live in places where daylight hardly penetrates. These animals settle large groups, sometimes the number of such a settlement can reach more than one thousand copies.
Pictured is a group of bats in a cave
Their home is dark damp caves, hollows arranged in the trunks of large trees, abandoned cellars, in general, all places where you can hide from prying eyes. Bats sleep, hanging upside down, and wrapped in wings like a blanket. With the onset of dusk, the animals move out to hunt.
It should be noted that the bat not only moves well through the air, but also climbs beautifully along steep surfaces, like an experienced rock climber, and can also move well on the ground, and if necessary, it can also hover above the water for a while to catch it from there. fish delicacy. When mice fly, they always scream loudly. In terms of sound strength, the squeak of a mouse is comparable to the noise of a jet aircraft engine.
If people could pick up ultrasonic waves, then it would not be easy to endure the screams of flying creatures, but simply unbearable. The cry stops only for a few seconds, while swallowing the caught prey. Bats spend the winter in hibernation, and those who do not like to spend the winter in harsh conditions fly away to warmer climes.
In the photo, the bat is sleeping
Nowadays, it is not uncommon to meet people who like to keep exotic animals at home. By price, certainly, bat suits many average citizens, then the conditions of detention and food for the animal can result in a “penny”.
In addition, people need to know that if they decide buy a bat, then you should not expect that a quiet pet will come out of this animal.
In addition, it is not very easy to create acceptable living conditions, the same can be said about the diet, because mice do not eat everything, but only what they like.
Bat food
Bats feed mainly on insects, although some species prefer fruit menu, flower nectar.
There are among the representatives and species related to carnivores. They are not found here, but in Mexico and the south of Argentina they live - "vampires", who prefer to eat warm blood or small animals for lunch.
They plunge their sharp teeth into the body of the victim, inject a special substance that does not allow the blood to clot, and lick it from the wound. True, they do not drink all the blood, although they can “stick” for several hours. In nature, there are species that feed. There are only two of these types. Fishing bats can catch fish larger than themselves.
Reproduction and lifespan of a bat
Bats do not form married couples. They often change partners, and mating very often takes place in the winter hut during hibernation. The male, half asleep, crawls up to the female, to the one that is closest to him, does his male work and returns to inspect erotic dream to its original place.
Pictured is a vampire bat
Animals from the order of bats that live in our country bring offspring once a year. And in tropical climate bats produce young all year round. As a rule, one blind naked mouse is born, less often two, only representatives of this genus living in Canada can reproduce 3-4 babies at once. Bats feed their young with mother's milk. A month later, the grown mice are able to lead an independent life.
In the photo, the female bat changed her position for the birth of the baby
An interesting observation: representatives of the insectivorous species are able to find their cub, having returned from hunting, among a huge crowd of relatives, and at the same time they are never mistaken. The life expectancy of bats by animal standards is an average of 7 to 10 years. However, experts say that there are individuals that can live a quarter of a century.
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, in terms of total number and species diversity, lives in humid hot areas: up to several hundred species in the basins of tropical rivers such as the Congo and the Amazon.
AT northern zones Taiga, there are only two or three species of bats.
40 species nest on the territory of Russia. The number of individuals per square kilometer is 50-100 in the middle lane and increases to 1000 in 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.
A 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.
Nutrition methods winged animals are also very diverse and correspond to the environment in which they live and breed.
The main contrasts are in the tropical zone, where some species consume only vegetarian flower nectar and fruit pulp, while others are more blood large mammals. However, the bulk of bats prefer. In rare cases, small vertebrates such as frogs and songbirds become their prey.
REFERENCE. The benefit that bats bring to farm crops was clearly demonstrated by an experiment conducted in the USA: a part of a corn field closed with a net, over which night flyers could not hunt, was 56% more affected by pest caterpillars.
In conditions middle lane bats in summer mass prey on insects. During the night, one animal destroys up to a thousand mosquitoes, as well as numerous fields, orchards and orchards, whose flight falls at night.
With the approach of cold weather and the disappearance of their main food, bats are looking for winter shelter, the temperature in which should not fall below 0ºС, and fall into suspended animation.
So these amazing creatures are experiencing an unfavorable season in the environment to which they have managed to adapt perfectly.
Awakening comes spring when the first flying insects appear - and tireless flyers again go out to night watch.
Useful video
In the video below you can see something about the habitation of bats:
If you find an error, please highlight a piece of text and click Ctrl+Enter.
All bats sleep upside down in limbo, catching their claws on some ledge. The limbs of a bat are not adapted for walking; these animals will not even be able to stand up straight on their small paws.
How bats hibernate
Sleepy from autumn to spring the bats hang in secluded places, their body temperature drops to 0 degrees, and a small heart beats only 5-6 times per minute.
What do bats eat
In April, volatiles flutter silently at dusk in search of insects, and in early summer, females gather in big companies and located where it will be warm for their babies. It turns out a kind of maternity hospital for bats. In a safe place, one baby is born to each mouse, and caring mothers for a month and a half they feed the cubs with milk in a comfortable position - of course, upside down. At first, mothers even fly out to hunt with their babies.
Bats - species. Why does a bat need a horseshoe?
Maybe for happiness? In the countries of the East, bats are loved and considered a symbol of happiness. No wonder the Chinese "fu" means both happiness and a bat. Bats, however, do not have human prejudices and rely only on themselves. But why then a horseshoe? Not all types of bats have this unusual adaptation, but only horseshoe mice.
Around the nose, these animals have horseshoe-shaped leathery outgrowth, with its help, the bat sends and receives echolocation signals. The large horseshoe bat, which is what this bat is called, speaks with its nose, and it needs its mouth only for eating. The sounds of this bat extend to 6-8 m, while other representatives of the genus send signals only 1-2 m. Moreover, horseshoe bats can distinguish relatives from other bats living in the neighborhood by signals.
Bats on the hunt
As for the night bat, I think you can already guess - the hunting time of this bat comes at night. These have strict order of departure for hunting: to whom to fly in the evening, to whom - at night, and to whom - at dawn.
Why was the pointed-eared and tricolored night bat named so?
The pointed-eared bat was named so for its sharp-shaped ears. This species is found in the Caucasus more often than tricolor night bat, which was named so because each hair of wool on its back is three-colored: dark below, light in the middle and red at the tip. The habitat of these rare animals was found only in the mountainous regions of the Krasnodar Territory.
Is it true that teaching and tourism harm bats?
Probably, the losers believe that the head hurts from teaching - this is very harmful. Who has been harmed by tourism? Bat - an ordinary long-winged bat suffered greatly from people. At the end of the 20th century, they were killed in huge numbers and at universities in biology classes they were handed out to students as a visual aid. The number of bats fell from 40,000 to 4,000 individuals. And in our time, various travel agencies at every turn offer excursions to caves - the habitats of bats. Noisy uninvited guests greatly disturb harmless animals.
How fast and how far can a bat fly.
Bat - common long-winged, living in caves, has amazing abilities: this mouse flies at speeds up to 70 km / h, and can also cover a distance of 285 km! But it is not so easy for flying animals to find new caves and move there, so they need protection.
The days when bats were considered vampires and messengers of the devil have not sunk into oblivion. Many are still afraid of winged creatures, firmly 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 a completely different origin, structure, lifestyle. Winged beauties come 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 tremble by the nose oddly shaped, 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 supplied 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 femur stronger and, if necessary, 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. Claws caught 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..
Photo
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 care and care for longer, up to a month. There are 1-2 cubs in the 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.
