Bats {bat, mammal} (Chiroptera) can fly and glide. One-fifth of mammal species are bats.
anatomy
Bats have skin from long fingers to body and legs. They have elongated forearms and fingers, with short thumb. They have heel bone {calcar} to hold wing skin. Bats have long stylohyal bone from skull base to hyoid in throat and voice box. Bats have bulbous malleus.
location
Bats are everywhere except Antarctica.
size
Smallest is five centimeters, and largest is two meters.
food
Bats eat fruit, eat insects, eat meat, and suck nectar. Vampire bats lick blood.
echolocation
Bats use echoes from ultrasound-producing vocal chords to find and recognize objects by echolocation. All bats have echolocation, except Old World fruit bats, such as flying fox, which lost it.
Fruit bats and vampire bats send one frequency. Most bats vary sound frequency. They typically use downward sound, because echoes from nearby objects have lower frequency than from farther objects. Acuity is greatest for small frequency range. Bats adjust sent-signal frequency, so echoes are in that small frequency range. Most bats make sound pulses. Some bats use slow emission rate until they get close to something. Some bats protect ears during sound emission. Some bats can calculate approach speed using Doppler shift.
types
Bats are Old World (Desmodontidae) or New World bats.
types: Old World
Old World fruit bats, horseshoe bats, Old World leaf-nosed bats, false vampire bats, bumblebee bats, and mouse-tailed bats are Old World bats. Old World fruit bats are flying foxes.
types: New World
Slit-faced bats and sheath-tailed bats are group of New World bats.
New World leaf-nosed bats, leaf-chinned bats, fishing bats, smoky bats, disk-winged bats, New Zealand short-tailed bats, and sucker-footed bats are group of New World bats.
Evening bats, long-fingered bats, free-tailed bats, and funnel-eared bats are group of New World bats.
evolution
Bats are early Laurasiatheria. Bats flew before they could echolocate.
Biological Sciences>Zoology>Kinds>Bat
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Date Modified: 2022.0224