Probably every person has come across bats at least once in his life. They can be seen in any city or village, one has only to go outside late in the evening or at night. When we observe these mysterious individuals, the question naturally arises: "Is the bat a bird or an animal?" Let's try to figure it out together.

Animal or bird?

A bat is an animal that belongs to bats. They are the only mammals that have mastered flight. The most interesting thing is that the name of the species does not correspond to reality, because these animals have nothing to do with rodents. It would be logical to call them flying monkeys, since the flying monkeys are similar to primates. People very often argue: “What specific species does this bird or animal belong to? Which of these statements is correct? " However, it is unlikely that a person versed in zoology will be able to classify it as a bird just because it has wings. To begin with, you should find out the complete lifestyle of the bats. Only after that, by providing arguments, you can convince of belonging to a particular genus.

Nutrition

Almost all bats feed on insects. Because of this, constant questions arise about which species the bat belongs to: is it a bird or an animal. Each individual has its own taste preferences: some prefer butterflies or midges, others prefer spiders or beetles, and still others prefer larvae.

Often bats grab their food during flight, when a potential victim hovers in the air. As a rule, they also eat on the fly, although there are those bats that prefer to settle down in a more convenient place after the hunt. Their methods of obtaining food are quite interesting and worthy of attention. For example, some bats scoop up insects with certain wing movements that resemble the work of blades, while others use their tail membrane as a net with which they catch their prey.

Varieties of bats

Like all animals, bats are divided into species. There are a lot of bats at the moment. More than 1200 varieties have been discovered to date. Hardly anyone wants to dispute the fact that the only flying mammals are the most abundant on the planet. According to statistics, every fifth animal is a bat. They all seem very similar, but they are not. Each species is different and has no analogues. Of the total number of mice, only fifty species live in temperate latitudes. That is why many do not even suspect that there are giant individuals! For example, the wingspan of tropical bats is over 170 centimeters. The species of bats are so diverse that research is still being carried out.

Wings

The bats' wings are formed by the thin skin that stretches between the body and the toes. They are designed in such a way that they are capable of emitting ultrasound, which helps bats to navigate in space. With this, the animal can easily detect prey or sense an obstacle on the way. For a long time, people believed that they loved to sit on the head of women and drink blood. In fact, this is not the case. The hair of the weaker sex has a peculiar structure, therefore, the wings of a bat, sending ultrasound, do not receive a return, respectively, the animal believes that there is an empty space in front of it.

additional information

Bats have very poor eyesight (black and white) and sense of smell. Their characteristic feature is perfect hearing. In order to navigate well in the dark, they emit a sound and, by its echo, understand whether there is an obstacle on their way and what is the distance to it. Thanks to this, they do not need good eyesight.

The basic habits of almost all species of bats are similar. All of them lead only nightlife, avoid bright places and do not build nests. During the day, bats sleep, hanging upside down. Most of these mammals are able to go into very long hibernation due to their ability to slow down the body's processes. Surprisingly, these animals can change the intensity of the respiration rate, affect the heart function, decrease the speed

Bats fly well, their flight is quite fast and maneuverable, so the question of whether a bat is a bird or an animal is controversial and is often the subject of lengthy discussions.

The science that studies bats is called chiropterology. In just a few years, scientists were able to discover dozens of new species of these creatures. It has now been proven that the most widespread and numerous animal in the world is the bat. But, unfortunately, at the moment they have not yet been fully studied. Their habitat covers almost the entire globe, except for islands in the ocean and polar regions. They are frequent guests in forests and deserts, plains and mountains, and also live both in a populous city and in places where no human has ever set foot.

Almost all children of preschool and primary school age are interested in animal life. And, of course, the main helpers in understanding the world around, in this period of a child's life, are parents.

However, kids sometimes ask questions that are difficult to give an exhaustive answer, and first you need to read a little yourself and prepare for the story. One of these questions is the question of bats, because you can find them practically in any part of our country, just being outside at night.

Of course, kids may not like this ugly creature and even scare a little at first, but it is so unusual that they will probably want to know more about it.

So, what to tell kids about bats?

We are used to the fact that if an individual has wings, then it is a bird, bats are an exception.

The bat is the only animal on our planet that can fly. An interesting name was given to them by scientists - a squad of "bats".

It may seem that bats are all the same species, that is, they are all the same. However, this is not the case, according to scientists, there are about 1000 species of bats on Earth.

So, on the territory of our country you can find bats with funny names - leaf-noses, leather, big long-eared bat, bat, etc.

Bats' muzzles resemble a pig's stigma in appearance, but there are some similarities with a mouse muzzle. Some representatives of these animals also have huge ears, like a hare, and on the nose there is a horn, like a rhino.

The body of bats is covered with a soft and thick fur coat. The skin covers the entire body of the animal, except for the wings. The color of the mouse skin can be gray or brown.

The front legs, the "wings" of bats, are long fingers connected by skin membranes. By spreading their fingers and opening their "wings", the animals can fly and take cover if they are cold.

Due to its unique feature, the animals can reach a flight speed of up to 20-40 km / h, that is, they can move like a leisurely car. Can you imagine? After all, this is movement in pitch darkness. Scientists say that bats see the world in black and white, and, by the way, they see not very well. Echolocation allows them to navigate well in the dark - such special ultrasonic pulses that are reflected from objects. The animals catch these impulses with their auricles, which allows them to maneuver and avoid collisions with obstacles.

An interesting feature is that when mice fly, they always scream loudly.

It is worth noting that bats not only fly well, but also climb excellently on steep surfaces, move along the ground and can even hover in the air above water. Amazing animals!

How big do bats get?

Most often, the size of individuals ranges from 3 to 10 cm, but there are species on Earth that reach 40-50 cm.

Where and how do bats live?

Bats usually live in groups that can reach over 1000 individuals.

They are home to places that are not exposed to sunlight. For example, dark caves, hollows, abandoned basements and attics.

The animals sleep all day upside down, wrapping themselves in wings - this is another of their amazing feature. But with the onset of darkness, they go hunting.

Insects, fruits, flower nectar serve as food for flying animals.

But there are also species that feed on the blood of birds or small animals. Such mice live in America, Mexico and southern Argentina. And there are species that feed on fish.

With the onset of frost, bats hibernate, and those that do not fall, fly away to warm lands, like birds.

According to scientists, the average life span of a bat is 7-10 years. Once a year, a female individual gives birth to a cub (or two cubs), which she feeds with milk.

You can see the bat in the zoo or outside at night. Sometimes, bats fly into the windows of houses by mistake. However, if it is safe to meet a bat in a zoo, then it is better not to touch a bat that has flown in through the window or found on the street, because it can be a carrier of dangerous diseases, for example.

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Winged animals can be found almost anywhere in the world... They have not developed only the polar regions, tundra and especially remote oceanic islands. In some island territories, they are the only representatives of mammals, since capable of long non-stop flights over 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 in the basins of tropical rivers such as the Congo and the Amazon.

In the northern zones of the 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 of settlement

Where do bats live? Since these are animals of nocturnal and twilight activity, they need a secluded and safe day refuge.

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 crevasses, depressions in the walls of cliffs and slopes of dunes, hollows and holes left by their inhabitants.

Some tropical species build themselves improvised umbrella bunks from large leaves, gnaw out personal recesses-niches in bunches of palm fruits or climb into the voids between the nodes of bamboo trunks.

Human invasion of nature destroys the natural habitat of bats; many of their species are becoming rare and disappearing. However, the adaptability of the bat to the habitat is very high and, in the vicinity of people, bats try to discover new shelters for themselves, similar to their favorite caves, burrows, hollows and crevices.

In Egypt, they mastered inner labyrinths of the great pyramids, in waste mining fields - abandoned mines and adits, in cities and villages they populate attics, basements, cellars, haystacks, woodpiles, sneak behind shutters and under window frames.

Reference: Representatives of most species prefer to settle in large colonies.

To attract bats in the conditions of horticultural and vegetable gardens and farms on trees, at a height of at least 3 meters, hang up special houses from slats with a secluded bottom entrance - a narrow slit, similar to inverted mailboxes.

Photo

Adaptation to the characteristics of the habitat

Bats show remarkable adaptability to the most extreme temperature conditions. They can withstand both an increase in body temperature up to 40 degrees and a decrease in it to zero.

Often they become unwanted neighbors of a person, settling in attics and balconies of houses and apartments. Some people do not consider it necessary to drive out guests, but this neighborhood has more disadvantages than advantages. If you decide from them, do not forget that some of their species are listed in the Red Book and their destruction is prohibited. Therefore, please be patient and achieve a peaceful relocation of bats to more suitable places for them.

Useful video

In the video below, you can see something about the habitat of bats:

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The bats - the only mammals to have mastered the air due to the presence of their wings. In addition, the bat is not a relative of the terrestrial one either in origin or in lifestyle.

What species does the bat belong to? She belongs to the order of bats, whose name speaks for itself. Why are bats called mice? it was named for its distant external resemblance to a land rodent and the ability to make sounds similar to a mouse squeak.

Appearance

Bat, description: most of the animal's body is retracted to the wings... If you do not take them into account, then you can note a miniature torso with a short neck and an elongated head. The mouth gap of the animals is large, sharp teeth are visible through it.

Some types of bats fascinate people with a pretty muzzle, others frightened by the unusual shape of the nose, disproportionately large ears and amazing growths on the head.

The prettiest bats of the fruit bat considered a fruit dog: She has large open eyes and an elongated fox-like nose. It is interesting that the names were given to some based on the shape of the animal's nose: pig-nosed, horseshoe-nosed, smooth-nosed.

The white bat has a kind of "horn" on its face, which gives the nose the shape of a petal. Thanks to this device, the forward nostrils of the animal catch odors faster and more efficiently.

No less a bulldog mouse has a specific appearance: on her muzzle in the transverse direction there is a cartilaginous fold, going over the nose from one auricle to another. The cartilaginous roller brings together the edges of the auricles, increasing their area for improved hearing, necessary for orientation in space during flight.

On the face animal you can "read" about lifestyle and even nutrition for the mouse. For example, fruit lovers do not need the powerful locators needed by flying specimens crossing their surroundings at night. But their nostrils are wider: they search for food, focusing on smells.

Photo

What a bat looks like: see the photo below:




Structure

The birds adapted to flight thanks to their lightweight cellular bones, air sacs in the lungs, and a cover that was heterogeneous in structure and function of feathers. Flying bats do not have all of this. and the skin membranes can hardly be called wings.

How do bats fly? Flight mice similar to the flight of Leonardo da Vinci's flying machine, who took over from nature the idea of ​​the wing structure of a flying mammal.

A solid skin membrane impenetrable by air "covers" the air masses from above, which allows the animals to push off and fly from them.

Skeleton and wings

The skeleton of a bat has its own characteristics. Limbs bats are modified: they serve as a skeleton for the wing... The humerus in these animals is short, and the bones of the forearm and the last 4 fingers are lengthened in order to increase the area of ​​the flying "mantle".

A fibrous skin fold is stretched from the neck to the fingertips of the animals. Thumb with a tenacious claw is not included in the wing, it necessary for the animal to grab... The posterior (interfemoral) part of the membrane is stretched between the hind legs and the long tail.

See how the wings of a bat look in the photo below:



Flight

The arm with the wing is set in motion by several paired muscles of the upper girdle, which to reduce energy consumption for flights attached not to the sternum, but to the fibrous base wing. The keel of the sternum of animals is inferior in power to that of a bird: only one muscle is attached to it, which is necessary for flight - the pectoralis major.

Spine in flying mammals more mobile than birds... It allows mice to be more maneuverable outside the air.

Movement on the ground

How does a bat move? Evolution has stripped bats of strong bones lower girdle, thighs and lower legs, leaving behind them the right to fly most of their lives.

Some types of mice, such as vampire mice, have stronger thigh bones and able to walk on the ground... They are supported by the thickened skin of the paw pads. Bats cannot move in this way and do it extremely awkwardly.

Dimensions and weight

Tiny body length animals inhabiting Russia, usually does not exceed 5 cm, the wingspan of the smallest of them is 18 cm.The mass of the baby record holders is 2-5 g.

Ears, white and pig-nosed mice are small in size. Representative of the latter species considered one of the smallest mammals on the ground.

Large individuals weigh up to a kilogram. The distance between the tips of the toes of the front paws with spread wings can reach one and a half meters, and the body length is 40 cm. The bats, South American false vampires, are considered to be the real giants among bats.

Sense organs

Reaction of bats to light: the retina of bats is devoid of cones- receptors responsible for daytime vision.

Their vision is twilight and is provided with sticks. That's why during the day the animals are forced to sleep, because in daylight they see poorly.

In some representatives, the eyes are covered with bizarre skin folds. This once again confirms the hypothesis that navigate in the space of the mouse not with the help of a visual analyzer... Close relatives of bats, fruit bats, also belonging to the order bats, have cones. These animals can be found during the day.

Minor role for animals of the visual analyzer was identified in a simple experiment: when the animals were blindfolded, they did not stop navigating in the environment. When the same thing was repeated with the ears, the mice began to bump into walls and objects in the room.

Bats bring undoubted benefits to gardeners and farms. In the dark, when birds are inactive, they massively destroy not only pests, but also small rodents. Read our articles about these mysterious animals and what they are.

How do mice see in the dark?

How bats navigate In the dark? What sounds do bats make? The amazing ability of bats to fly and forage without the participation of vision was revealed after using sensitive sensors managed to record ultrasonic signals that are emitted by animals during flight.

Ultrasound from bats, which is inaudible to the human ear, is reflected from surrounding objects within a radius of 15 meters, returned to the animal, collected by the auricle and analyzed by the inner ear. Hearing in animals is thin.

Nutrition

Flying mammals have their own eating habits... Based on which product the animal has a favorite, they distinguish:

  • insectivores;
  • carnivores;
  • fruit eaters or vegetarians;
  • fish-eating mice;
  • vampires.

Read an interesting article on how and how mice hunt in nature.

Dream

Sleep bats prefer upside down... With the claws of their hind legs, they cling to a horizontal bar or twig of a tree, press their wings to the body and fall asleep. Why do bats sleep upside down (upside down)? Sitting they do not sleep: weak the bones of the lower extremities do not withstand many hours of stress on them while sleeping.

Sleeping bats, sensing danger, spread their wings, unclench the claws of their hind legs and fly away without wasting time getting up from a lying or sitting position.

Reproduction

How do bats breed and are born? Before hibernation animals open the mating season (?). A few months after mating to light 1-2 mice appear which the mother feeds with milk for 2 weeks.

Cubs bat, are under guardianship mothers 3 weeks, after which they start an independent life. Ask how long bats live, there is evidence that bats can live up to 30 years.

Exotic next door

For fun facts about bats, see the video below:

On September 21, one of the most unusual nature conservation holidays is celebrated - the International Night of the Bats. The purpose of the holiday is to draw people's attention to the problem of protecting and popularizing these animals. In Europe, the night of bats has been celebrated for almost 10 years, and in Russia it has been held since 2003.

On the day of the holiday of bats, AiF.ru collected some interesting facts about bats.

1. Bats belong to the order of bats. There are over a thousand species of these small winged animals. Among all mammals, only bats are capable of active flight, while flying squirrels do not fly - they glide from a great height.

Photo: www.globallookpress.com

2. Bats are nocturnal, and during the day they sleep upside down, falling into a daze. They live in trees in forests, as well as in caves and attics of houses. At the same time, mice do not like loneliness and usually live with their relatives. Individual colonies of bats can number up to several million animals.

3. Mice usually do not fly as fast as birds, although the Brazilian foldlip is capable of speeds up to 100 km / h.

4. Most bats feed on insects, but some also prey on birds, lizards and frogs. Some species eat fruits.

One small bat can eat up to 600 mosquitoes in an hour. In terms of the weight of a person, such a portion will be equal to 20 pizzas. At the same time, bats are not obese. Metabolism in these creatures is very fast - they can completely digest a serving of bananas, mangoes or berries in 20 minutes.

5. Mice are not blind at all, they see very well, however, they use ultrasonic echolocation, not vision, to navigate in space. Mice make sounds that are not audible to the human ear and pick up echoes reflected from objects. They are also able to communicate with each other using a squeak, have their own language and even sing songs at high frequencies.

6. Bats have long been considered mysterious and sinister creatures, because they settle in places that people fear, appear only after dark and disappear at dawn. With wings like bats, they often depicted dragons, demons and demons. The gargoyle statues that sit on the facades of Gothic cathedrals have the same wings. And in the novel "Dracula" by Bram Stoker, vampires first began to turn into bats.

7. In fact, bats of the vampire subfamily, which feed on blood, do not occur in Europe. They live in Central and South America. Vampire mice drink the blood of large animals and birds, but sometimes they can attack sleeping people. They cannot fast for more than 2 days. Vampires find their prey using special infrared receptors, and can also hear the victim's breath.

Photo: www.globallookpress.com

8. Vampire bites are usually painless due to the anesthetic substances in the saliva of the mice. Also, their saliva contains enzymes that prevent blood clotting. Therefore, the wound can continue to bleed even after the vampire has already "eaten".

9. Many species of bats have been listed in the Red Book due to human activities. They have become rare due to the destruction of their habitats and deforestation. Not the least role in the disappearance of mice is played by superstitions, fears and speculation, because of which people seek to get rid of these harmless, in general, animals. In order to protect the mouse population, many countries have signed the International Agreement on the Conservation of Bats.

10. Bats are neither dangerous nor aggressive. Those animals that live in our country feed on mosquitoes and other insects. If the mouse flew into your window, try not to harm it, carefully catch it and release it. In the winter season, it is better to give her to specialists, because she herself may not find shelter and die.

Photo: www.globallookpress.com

11. The mass of the smallest bat - the pig-bore - is 2 g, and the largest individuals of the golden-crowned fox can weigh up to 1600 g. The wingspan of these mammals is from 15 to 170 cm. The weight of newborn bats is a quarter of the mother's weight.

12. Bats are able to change their own body temperature in the range of almost 50 degrees. When they are not hunting, their metabolism slows down significantly, and warm-blooded animals can freeze to the state of icicles.

13. It is difficult for bats to take off from the ground, so they choose places to rest from where they can throw themselves down. That is why these animals spend most of their leisure time hanging upside down.

Photo: www.globallookpress.com

14. Australian aborigines and Buddhists consider the bat to be a sacred animal. In China, these mammals represent good luck and happiness. The words "bat" and "happiness" in Chinese sound the same.

15. Scientists from the University of Queensland have found poison in the saliva of bats, which turned out to be a powerful thrombolytic. With it, you can create drugs against high blood pressure and stroke. The poison is absolutely harmless to humans and has a similar effect to cryotherapy.

16. Bats help farmers get rid of harmful insects. Last year, American researchers estimated that these animals were saving US farmers about $ 3.7 billion annually. In addition, bats pollinate many plant species. Bats are sometimes even called “tequila keepers”, because bats distribute agave seeds, on the basis of which the traditional Mexican alcoholic drink is produced.