Frontpage » Tag » bats

News tagged with bats

Bats: What sounds good doesn't always taste good

Bats use a combination of cues in their hunting sequence - capture, handling and consumption - to decide which prey to attack, catch and consume and which ones they are better off leaving alone or dropping ...

Biology / Plants & Animals

created May 21, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Hitting snooze on the molecular clock: Rabies evolves slower in hibernating bats

The rate at which the rabies virus evolves in bats may depend heavily upon the ecological traits of its hosts, according to researchers at the University of Georgia, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and ...

Biology / Plants & Animals

created May 18, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Early spring means more bat girls

There must be something in the warm breeze. A study on bats by a University of Calgary researcher suggests that bats produce twice as many female babies as male ones in years when spring comes early.

Biology / Plants & Animals

created May 05, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Researchers discover bats may be a common source of many viral diseases

International researchers under the aegis of the University of Bonn have discovered the probable cause of not just one, but several infectious agents at the same time. Paramyxoviruses originate from ubiquitous ...

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Apr 24, 2012 | popularity 3.7 / 5 (3) | comments 0

Bats rebound in NY caves first hit by white-nose

(AP) -- Researchers found substantially more bats in several caves that were the first ones struck by white-nose syndrome, giving them a glimmer of hope amid a scourge that has killed millions of bats in ...

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Apr 19, 2012 | popularity 4.5 / 5 (8) | comments 4

New study traces the evolutionary history of what mammals eat

The feeding habits of mammals haven't always been what they are today, particularly for omnivores, finds a new study.

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Apr 16, 2012 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (5) | comments 2 | with audio podcast

Scientists discover new species of roundleaf bat in Vietnam

A team of researchers, supported by the Conservation Leadership Programme (CLP), the Harrison Institute, the University of Tübingen, and the Institute of Ecology and Biological Resources, has discovered ...

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Apr 13, 2012 | popularity 4 / 5 (1) | comments 0

Endangered bats find sanctuary in Israeli 'ghost bunkers'

Abandoned army bunkers along the Jordan River have become a habitat for 12 indigenous bat species, three of which are already designated as endangered and two that are on the critical list. The bats were recently identified ...

Biology / Ecology

created Apr 12, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Tackle fungal forces to save crops, forests and endangered animals, scientists say

More than 600 million people could be fed each year by halting the spread of fungal diseases in the world's five most important crops, according to research published today in the journal Nature.

Biology / Ecology

created Apr 11, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 2 | with audio podcast

Bats save energy by drawing in wings on upstroke: study

(Phys.org) -- Bat wings are like hands: meaty, bony and full of joints. A new Brown University study finds that bats take advantage of their flexibility by folding in their wings on the upstroke to save inertial ...

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Apr 10, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 2 | with audio podcast

Study: Fungus behind bat die-off came from Europe

The mysterious deaths of millions of bats in the United States and Canada over the past several years were caused by a fungus that hitchhiked from Europe, scientists reported Monday.

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Apr 09, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

New research highlights: 'Conservation and Management of Eastern Big-Eared Bats'

A new publication from the USDA Forest Service Southern Research Station (SRS), 'Conservation and Management of Eastern Big-Eared Bats,' brings together the latest knowledge about eastern big-eared bats. Edited ...

Biology / Ecology

created Mar 13, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

New species of bat found in Vietnam

A distinctive echolocation frequency led to the discovery of a new species of bat within the genus Hipposideros. Although this bat is similar to the species Hipposideros armiger, differences in acoustics, ...

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Feb 21, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

Less lively aluminum baseball bats change game

Baseball is considered relatively safe, but its reputation was established in the era of wooden bats. Aluminum bats, introduced in the 1970s, had an enormous “trampoline effect” and made the game ...

Other Sciences / Other

created Feb 20, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 1

Researchers eye monitoring system for offshore wind energy impacts

The next generation of wind energy facilities in the United States may be built offshore where winds are stronger, floating platforms could be utilized, and links to power grids may already exist.

Technology / Energy & Green Tech

created Feb 14, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Bat

See article

Bats are mammals in the order Chiroptera (pronounced /kaɪˈrɒptərə/). The forelimbs of bats are developed as wings, making them the only mammals naturally capable of flight (opposed to other mammals, such as flying squirrels, gliding possums and colugos, that glide only for a distance). Bats do not flap arms like birds, instead they flap spread out hands where their fingers are very long and covered with a thin membrane or patagium. Chiroptera comes from two Greek words cheir (χειρ) "hand" and pteron (πτερον) "wing."

There is an estimated total of about 1,100 species worldwide, which is about 20 percent of all classified mammal species. About 70 percent of bats are insectivores. Most of the rest are frugivores, with a few species being carnivorous. Bats are present throughout most of the world and perform a vital ecological role by pollinating flowers, and eat various plants to dispere their seeds. Many tropical plants depend for their seeds to be distributed entirely by bats.

Bats range in size from Kitti's Hog-nosed Bat measuring 29–33 mm (1.14–1.30 in) in length and 2 g (0.07 oz) in mass, to the Giant golden-crowned flying fox which has a wing span of 1.5 m (4 ft 11 in) and weighs approximately 1.2 kg (3 lb).

For more information about Bat, read the full article at Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.

Related topics: species , virus , wind turbines , fungus