Scientists have discovered that bats - some of the oldest inhabitants of the planet, because they live in the world for almost 50 million years!Their ancestors, known as ikaronikterisy, is not much different from modern species.As the mice developed the ability to fly, scientists have not been able to understand, and yet suggest that they evolved from insect-eating, which led their lives in the trees.
Appearance
representatives of different species may differ in size and color, but any bat looks so characteristic that confuse it with other animals is simply impossible.
Her body is covered with short fur, which is on the abdomen has a lighter shade.The wingspan is 15 centimeters to 2 meters, their shape can differ significantly, but the structure is always the same.
Bat has a well-developed forelimbs, short powerful shoulders and very long forearm is formed only a single radius.She has very long fingers - one great finishes sharp hooked claws, and the others are used to maintain the lateral membranes of the wings.
long tail and body shape may vary depending on the species of bats, but they all have a bony outgrowth, which is also called a spur.With it, the wings are deployed to the animal's tail.
They fly using synchronous strokes of membranous wings.A dormant wings pressed tight to the body.
Lifestyle
Although bats are found in a variety of environmental conditions, their habits remarkably the same - they are exclusively nocturnal and daytime sleep, dangling upside down.
bat prefers to live in large groups, loneliness not to her liking.
these animals spend the winter in hibernation, hiding from the cold in secluded areas and closing the wings, and the warm season they have set aside for building and feeding offspring.
The most common bat found in caves, dark crevices of the mountain, abandoned mines, hollow trees, old residential houses.
Most of waking it spends on getting food and rest time used to get a good freshen up, clean the wings, abdomen and chest.
All bats have a natural gift of echolocation, so they are able to perfectly orient in space and "see" even the finest wires and small ripples on the water, raised fish.
The feeding bats
They mainly eat insects, but the taste preferences are all different: some species like butterflies and grasshoppers, others - spiders and beetles, and others prey on dragonflies, and someone produces wood larvae.Their prey, they often miss out on the fly, and some use their wings as a grid, raking insects and sending it into his mouth.
bat is carnivorous, but these kinds of very little.In the food are small rodents and small birds.There are several types that catch and eat fish.
image of vampire bats also did not appear out of the blue: in South America are found species that feed exclusively on the blood of animals and humans.They make a small incision in the skin of its victim and suck a little blood.This is not fatal, and can be dangerous only because of the possibility of contracting rabies - as you know, the bat is a carrier of the disease.
So afraid of these animals is not necessary - all the horror stories about them too exaggerated, if not invented.
