Different Kinds of Bats.

Megabats
The megabats are large and live in the tropical parts of our planet. They either eat fruit or drink nectar from flowers, and sometimes look for food during the day instead of at night. Megabats have big eyes and can see very well. These bats use their sense of smell along with their eyes to find ripe fruit. Stellaluna is a megabat. The biggest bat in the world is the gigantic flying fox. It weighs over 2 pounds and has a wingspan of about 6 feet. Take a look at some different types of megabats. Which one do you like the most?
Little Red Flying Fox	Grey-headed Flying Fox	Spectacled Flying Fox	Fruit Bat
Microbats Microbats are usually much smaller than the megabat. They have small eyes and large ears. They eat mostly insects, fish, lizards, and birds. The vampire bat drinks blood from other animals. Microbats find their food by sending out a high-pitched squeak through their mouth or nose. This is called echolocation. The smallest microbat is the Bumblebee bat. It weighs only 2 grams. Which microbat do you find to be the most interesting? Spotted Bat Mexican Free-tailed Bat Bumblebee Bat Spear Nosed Bat

ECHOLOCATION

ECHOLOCATION

This is the sonar that the Bats using for find their ways, food (insects) and a lot of thing more.

Form, function and dietary habits of bats

 

In nature, the shape of the bodies is closely linked to the role that made ​​their bodies. Thus, each feature observed in bats has a rationale, a reason.

The most striking feature esla presence of membranes or wings, allowing them to be losúnicos truly flying mammals. Their wings were formed by loshuesos extension of the fingers, and the presence of webbing that extend to the sides of the body, which estánformadas by skin and connective tissue, and muscles vasossanguíneos.

The wings of bats are blood muchacirculación to bring all nutrientespara flight, which requires a lot of energy. Have basic tresfunciones: serve for flight, for thermal and capturarinsectos.

Another feature is the presence of unamembrana between the legs, which also includes the tail, and that WILL uropatagium flame. Their shape varies among species, but some are highly developed and have unasestructuras ankle cartilage leaving danforma bag and this membrane, and used for catching insects.

The head of the bat has a certain way according to their feeding habits, ie what you eat each species. Some have a membrane in the nose called nasal leaf, which helps in the issue of the sounds to make them more targeted.

The amazing world of the Bats

The skills of the Bats

In the world exist a lot of classes of Bats, each one has a special skill but not everyone has the same skill.

For me the next skill is AMAZING, so let's begin.

Class: Greater false vampire bat (Megaderma lyra) and Greater sac-winged bat (Saccopteryx bilineata)

Location: Asia (false vampire bat) and South America (sac-winged bat)

Ability: Singing

How it works: Bats use sound to see, hunt and navigate. This echolocation, where high frequency sounds bounce off objects giving the bat a picture of the world around it, is purely functional. But recent studies have also revealed that bats use sound socially, producing lower frequency calls which are still inaudible to the human ear but allow bats to communicate with one other. The greater false vampire bat and the greater sac-winged bat have been found to take this even further by singing. In false vampire bats, dominant males produce sounds that are distinct to each individual. It is thought they are used to attract female mates, while the sac-winged bat uses its song to mark out its territory rather like song birds. 

It's amazing, but now i want to show a little video about a fight of Bats.

Bats and more

CHARACTERISTIC

• Insectivorous bats are considered beneficial for humans and many species play an important role in pollinating plants and dispersing seeds. Due to its size and number of fruit bats Eurasia may constitute an economic threat when they invade orchards, but perhaps the greater the adverse effect of the transmission of diseases, especially rabies, pets . This problem is important in the case of the American tropics, where vampire bats infected bites have led to local outbreaks of rabies in cattle and have decimated entire herds. Other non-vampire bats can contract and transmit rabies; however, the prevalence of infection was low, outbreaks are rare, and attacks on humans are rare.         

• The wings of bats are composed of cartilage with small amounts of calcium. The bones are similar to human fingers, but more flexible. If a bat wing wear have the ability to repair itself.

HABITAT

• The bat is a very adaptable creature and research shows that there are very few places in the world where they live, often do so in caves where they have access to water, safe to hide from predators during the day places, and plenty of food . Often large colonies of bats are rarely found and only a few bats in a given location.

• Sometimes, abandoned mine shafts provide the right environment for bats under bridges is another common place where bats are found, rest under large trees, these sites help keep them well hidden from predators.
  

Anatomy of bats

Ear: external organ of hearing, located on both sides of the head. In bats has a huge variety of shapes and sizes.

Swallow: Small elongated projection of skin-covered cartilage, located in front of the ears.

Noseleaf: roughly triangular projection possessing fleshy nose some species of Microchiroptera. It is believed that its function is related to direct the echolocation signals emitted by the nose.

Calcareous Spurs: Boss of cartilage that extends from the ankle of bats, along the edge of the tail membrane, towards the tail. Helps extend the tail membrane, providing support during turns in flight.

Uropatagium: Membrane tail. Formed as the wing skin by elastic membrane stretches between the hind legs and can be wide or narrow, large or small. In some bats, insects that do not hunt, you may be missing altogether.

Cola: It can be long or short, free part of the tail membrane or not, or missing altogether.

Foot: The toes are curved and sharp claws that cling even while they sleep. When a bat hanging upside down, the weight of your body keeping your knees straight and close the jaws to automatically engage and lock sitting on the perch.

Wing membrane or dactilopatagio: Tough and elastic double layer of skin that extends between the body, arms and fingers, forming the structure of the wing.

5th digit: Normal bone almost parallel to the body (corresponding to our little finger).

4th finger: Normal bone extending flange width (corresponding to our ring finger).

3rd finger: Normal bone extending to the wing tip (corresponding to our midst or middle finger).

The 2nd finger: Normal bone on the outer edge of the wing (corresponding to our index finger).

1st finger Thumb, is forward and has a nail.

Wrist: As our wrist is the joint between the bones of the hand and arm.

Animal Symbolism: Meaning of the Bat

Virginia big-eared bat

The Native American animal symbolism of the bat comes from a keen observation of this magnificent animal. These people recognized that the bat was highly sensitive to their surroundings and so therefore was considered a symbol of intuition, dreaming and vision. This made the bat a powerful symbol for Native American shamans and medicine people. Often the spirit of the bat would be invoked when special energy was needed, like "night-sight" which is the ability to see through illusion or ambiguity and dive straight to the truth of matters.

It is a symbol of communication because the native americans observed the bat to be a highly social creature. Indeed, the bat has strong family ties. They are very nurturing, exhibiting verbal communication, touching, and sensitivity to members of their group.

A quick-list of Bat Animal Symbolism

• Illusion
• Rebirth
• Dreams
• Intuition
• Initiation
• Journeying
• Inner Depth
• Communication

The bat is a symbol of rebirth and depth because it is a creature that lives in the belly of the mother  (Earth). From the womb-like caves it emerges every evening at dusk. And so - from the womb it is reborn every evening.

If you have the bat as your totem you are extremely aware of your surroundings. Sometimes you can be overly sensitive to the feelings of others. Additionally, you are quite perceptive on a psychic level, and are prone to haveprophetic dreams.

If you work with the bat as your totem, you will be put to the test, because it is demands only 100% commitment to spiritual growth. The bat will never accept half-hearted or lukewarm attempts at self-improvement.Indeed, if the bat senses that you are slacking in your psychic/spiritual training it will likely move on to someone else who is more willing to learn the lessons the bat has to offer.

As with most of our hardest challenges, working with the demanding bat will reap some of the most profound rewards you could ever dream of. But be warned, the bat asks a lot of us, like:

Bat Meanings for Us Personally

• Dying to our ego
• Loving our enemies as ourselves
• Going within to touch our inner demons
• Exploring the underworlds of reality (which can be scary)
• Renewing our thoughts and beliefs on a moment-to-moment basis

All of these tasks can be harrowing experiences. This is why the Native American symbolism of the bat deals with initiation; because this creature takes us to outlandish extremes. But rest assured, the bat is never leaves our side while we are journeying.

Furthermore, once we are tested to satisfaction, the devotion of the bat will never fade. It will eternally support us on our spiritual path - ever faithful and forever loving us on our journey to maintain our highest potential.

Bats are the only mammals that can fly, but vampire bats have an even more interesting distinction—they are the only mammals that feed entirely on blood.

These notorious bats sleep during the day in total darkness, suspended upside down from the roofs of caves. They typically gather in colonies of about 100 animals, but sometimes live in groups of 1,000 or more. In one year, a 100-bat colony can drink the blood of 25 cows.

During the darkest part of the night, common vampire bats emerge to hunt. Sleeping cattle and horses are their usual victims, but they have been known to feed on people as well. The bats drink their victim's blood for about 30 minutes. They don't remove enough blood to harm their host, but their bites can cause nasty infections and disease.

Vampire bats strike their victims from the ground. They land near their prey and approach it on all fours. The bats have few teeth because of their liquid diet, but those they have are razor sharp. Each bat has a heat sensor on its nose that points it toward a spot where warm blood is flowing just beneath its victim's skin. After putting the bite on an animal, the vampire bat laps up the flowing blood with its tongue. Its saliva prevents the blood from clotting.

Young vampire bats feed not on blood but on milk. They cling tightly to their mothers, even in flight, and consume nothing but her milk for about three months.

The common vampire bat is found in the tropics of Mexico, Central America, and South America.

With a flash of brown wing and laser-like accuracy, the Virginia big-eared bat nabs an insect on the fly. This voracious eater, with its distinctive big ears, will devour half its weight in bugs every night during warm weather months. Come winter hibernation, though, the bat could be in for a chilling reality. 

Already hard hit by human disturbance during hibernation, the endangered Virginia big-eared bat, which lives in parts of Kentucky, North Carolina, Virginia and West Virginia, has long struggled to survive. Now white-nose syndrome could make matters worse. Although scientists haven’t found evidence of white-nose syndrome in Virginia big-eared bats yet, they have found the fungus in caves where the bats hibernate. It could be just a matter of time. This powerful plague already affects seven bat species and is responsible for some 5.5 million bat deaths since biologists first identified it in a New York cave in 2006. Today it is found in as many as 19 states and Canada.

Named for the powdery residue it leaves on a bat’s muzzle and wings, this fatal fungus disrupts bats during winter hibernation, causing them to fly when they would normally be inactive. With no insects to eat, afflicted bats diminish their fat reserves and starve. That leaves fewer bats around to keep bugs in balance come spring. And their services do more than keep pesky mosquitoes from our picnics.

The Forest Service estimates that the die-off from white-nose syndrome means that at least 2.4 million pounds of bugs—including major agricultural pests like gypsy moths and alfalfa weevils—will plunder our crops. And fewer bats, which now provide a nontoxic pest-control service equaling up to $53 billion a year, means farmers likely will use more pesticides.