The habits of bats

Bats are the only mammals that can flap their wings and can find their way and hunt by sound waves. With nocturnal sex, usually group activities. In the temperate zone, there will be migration in winter, mainly living in caves, tree caves and forests. Bats eat a wide range of food, and most bats feed on fruit or nectar. Generally have the habit of hibernation, but hibernation is not deep, there are excretion and eating during hibernation.

I. Reproduction

Their fecundity is not high, and there is a phenomenon of "delayed fertilization", that is, fertilization does not occur during mating before hibernation, and the sperm spend the winter in the reproductive tract of the female, and after waking up in the spring of the following year, the mated female begins to ovulate and fertilize, and then conceive and give birth. Bats reproduce once a year and give birth to one baby at a time during 2-6 months of pregnancy. in summer, female bats give birth to a fairly fully developed larva. The newborn larvae are covered with fluff, hang firmly on the mother's chest with claws to suck milk, and will not fall while the mother is flying.

Second, eating habits

Bats eat a wide range of animals, some species like nectar, fruit, some like to eat fish, frogs, insects, feed on animal blood, and even eat other bats. Generally speaking, large bats generally feed on fruit or nectar, while most small bats prey on insects. Many bats in the tropics and subtropics feed on plant fruits, and they eat a lot. About 70% of bats prey on insects, and they usually send out ultrasonic waves to explore their prey, mostly in the air. Bats are very quick to hunt their prey. Through high-speed photography, it is found that some bats hunt directly with their mouths, some use their wings to intercept their prey into their mouths, and some use their tail membrane to scoop bugs into their mouths like spoons. Bats eat a lot of insects and can eat about 1/3 self-weight insects every night.

Bats eat very few carnivorous bats. There may be two species of fake vampire bats that often prey on rodents, small birds, frogs and lizards. Little is known about their behavior, and it is not clear whether they are active predators. Some bats can fish, and Mexican rabbit-lipped bats can catch more than 30 small fish in one night.

The only bats that eat fish are the Mexican rabbit-lipped bat, the Sonora mouse-eared bat and the big-footed rat-eared bat. Fish-eating bats are characterized by long legs and large feet and sharp hooked claws on their toes. When hunting, keep close to the surface of the water, use ultrasound to detect the spray caused by small fish, and wait for an opportunity to catch the prey with your feet.

Honey-sucking bats are similar to hummingbirds in their living habits. They have evolved characteristics suitable for honey absorption, such as a long and thin mouth and nose, a sudden reduction of the lower jaw, and a slender and malleable tongue. While sucking honey, bats also pollinate plants, especially those that open at night (such as gourd trees, cacti, etc.).

Third, hibernation

Bats generally have the habit of hibernating. From autumn, bats accumulate a layer of fat in their lower abdomen and become more than 1.5 times their weight in summer before hibernation. The ability of metabolism decreases during hibernation, breathing and heartbeat only a few times per minute, blood flow slows down, body temperature drops to the same as the ambient temperature, but hibernation is not deep, sometimes excretion and eating during hibernation, and can return to normal immediately after waking up.

Generally speaking, bats rarely appear in cities, and most bats do not suck blood. Don't be afraid if you encounter bats. Bats generally live in quiet places and rarely take the initiative to attack humans.