A World of Science and Mystery
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A WORLD OF SCIENCE AND MYSTERY M. BROCK FENTON AND NANCY SIMMONS BATS A World of Science and Mystery M. BROCK FENTON AND NANCY SIMMONS There are more than 1,300 species of bats—or almost a quar- ing behavior? A chapter on biosonar, or echolocation, takes ter of the world’s mammal species. But before you shrink in readers through the system of high-pitched calls bats emit fear from these furry “creatures of the night,” consider the to navigate and catch prey. More than half of the world’s bat bat’s fundamental role in our ecosystem. A single brown bat species are either in decline or already considered endan- can eat several thousand insects in a night. Bats also polli- gered, and the book concludes with suggestions for what nate and disperse the seeds for many of the plants we love, we can do to protect these species for future generations to from bananas to mangoes and figs. benefit from and enjoy. Bats: A World of Science and Mystery presents these fas- From the tiny “bumblebee bat”—the world’s smallest cinating nocturnal creatures in a new light. Lush, full-color mammal—to the Giant Golden-Crowned Flying Fox, whose photographs portray bats in flight, feeding, and mating in wingspan exceeds five feet, Bats presents a panoramic view views that show them in exceptional detail. The photos also of one of the world’s most fascinating yet least-understood take the reader into the roosts of bats, from caves and mines species. to the tents some bats build out of leaves. A comprehensive guide to what scientists know about the world of bats, the M. Brock Fenton is professor in and chair of the Department of Biol- book begins with a look at bats’ origins and evolution. The ogy at the University of Western Ontario. He is the author or editor of book goes on to address a host of questions related to flight, several books, including Bat Ecology, also published by the University of diet, habitat, reproduction, and social structure: Why do Chicago Press. Nancy Simmons is curator-in-charge of the Department some bats live alone and others in large colonies? When do of Mammalogy at the American Museum of Natural History, where she bats reproduce and care for their young? How has the abil- is also professor in the Richard Gilder Graduate School. ity to fly—unique among mammals—influenced bats’ mat- 8 ½ x 11 For a review copy or other publicity To place an order in the United inquiries, please contact: States or Canada, please contact 240 pages, 80 color plates, your local University of Chicago M 10 halftones, 10 line drawings ELinDA KenneDY Press sales representative or con- Promotions Manager ISBN-13: 978-0-226-06512-0 tact the University of Chicago Press University of Chicago Press by phone at 1-800-621-2736 or by Publication date: November 2014 fax at 1-800-621-8476. 1427 East 60th St. Cloth $35.00/£24.00 Chicago, IL 60637 E-book ISBN-13: 978-0-226-06526-7 [email protected] 773-702-2945 Contents M. Brock Fenton The University of Chicago Press, Chicago 60637 000 Chapter 1. It’s a Bat! Is emeritus professor in the Department of The University of Chicago Press, Ltd., London Biology at the University of Western Ontario. © 2014 by M. Brock Fenton and Nancy Simmons 000 Chapter 2. Ancient Bats He is the author or editor of several books, All rights reserved. Published 2014. 000 Chapter 3. Taking Off including Bat Ecology, also published by the Printed in the United States of America University of Chicago Press. 000 Chapter 4. How Bats See with Sound 23 22 21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14——1 2 3 4 5 000 Chapter 5. What Bats Eat Nancy B. Simmons Is curator-in-charge of the Department of ISBN-13: 978-0- 226-06512-0 (cloth) 000 Chapter 6. Where Bats Hang Out Mammalogy at the American Museum ISBN-13: 978-0-226-06526-7 (e-book) of Natural History, where she is also professor DOI: 10.7208/chicago/9780226065267.001.0001 000 Chapter 7. Life Histories of Bats in the Richard Gilder Graduate School. 000 Chapter 8. Behavior of Bats Library of Congress Cataloging-in- Publication Data 000 Chapter 9. Bats and Disease 000 Chapter 10. Bats and People Fenton, M. Brock (Melville Brockett), 1943– author. Bats: A World of Science and Mystery / 000 Chapter 11. Conservation of Bats M. Brock Fenton and Nancy B. Simmons. pages : illustrations ; cm 000 Chapter 12. What’s Next in Bats? Includes bibliographical references and index. 000 Annotated Bibliography ISBN 978-0-226-06512-0 (cloth : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-0-226-06526-7 (e-book) 000 Appendix of Bat Names 1. Bats. I. Simmons, Nancy B., author. II. 000 Acknowledgements Title. QL737.C5F445 2014 599.4—dc23 000 Index 2014010720 ∞ This paper meets the requirements of ANSI/ NISO Z39.48-1992 (Permanence of Paper). Produced by Névraumont Publishing Company, Inc. Brooklyn, New York Book design by Nicholas LiVolsi 4 5 1 It’s a Bat! Introduction The most distinctive features of bats are their Bats are considered warm-blooded wings and nocturnal habits. Fossils show that bats (homoeothermic) because they maintain high have been around for over fifty-two million years. body temperatures when active, as do most tr (See Chapter 2.) If one had a time machine and mammals. Many bats, however, have internal could stand on the bank of an ancient stream or thermostats that allow their body temperature to lake at nightfall, the flying creatures that swooped vary with ambient temperature, a specialization w t through the skies would be immediately thought to save energy. (See Chapter 6.) This recognizable as bats. Then, as now, bats would versatile approach is known as heterothermy and fa have appeared as quick and mysterious animals. is a strategy that also appears in other groups of (Figure 1.1) mammals, such as rodents. Bats of temperate People have always wondered about bats. regions especially benefit from this approach to ea From the time of Aesop, there have been stories thermoregulation. suggesting that bats are otherworldly, part Bats have evolved diverse dietary habits mammal and part bird. In some folk stories, bats including insectivory, carnivory, frugivory, e are portrayed as duplicitous because they can nectarivory, piscivory (fish eating) and even alternate between being birds and being mammals. sanguinarivory (blood feeding). (See Chapter 5.) A recurring story recounts a ball game between In this respect bats are remarkable: no other birds and mammals. In one version, bats are group of mammals exhibits such ecological shunned by both sides because they appear to be a diversity. There are no known toothless bats mixture of the two. In another, flight allows although a permanent evolutionary loss of teeth k them to score the winning point and makes has occurred in some other mammals, such as them heroes, at which point they are recognized as anteaters. There is no evidence that bats or their mammals. immediate ancestors laid eggs. Among modern mammals, monotremes (duck-billed platypus, BOX. 1.1 spiny anteater) are the only egg-layers. Bats have Bats are Mammals a placenta that facilitates exchange of nutrients ca As mammals, each of us can probably think of and wastes between the blood of the mother and some key features that we share with other that of the fetus. Bats and all other placental mammals. These could include having hair or fur, mammals give birth to well-developed young. giving birth to live young and feeding them with This makes placental mammals (including bats) hf milk and having two generations of teeth (baby distinct from the pouched mammals (marsupials or milk teeth and permanent teeth). (See Chapter such as opossums, kangaroos and their relatives) 7.) Bats meet all of these criteria. The basic that bear tiny embryos that must be nurtured anatomy of bats is mammalian, from skeleton to attached to the mother’s nipple before developing Figure 1.1. organs. Bats’ hearts tend to be larger than those sufficiently to move around alone. There is no A flying Jamaican Fruit Bat (Artibeus jamaicensis) of other mammals of comparable size, no doubt evidence of bat-like mammals having evolved showing the wrist (w), thumb (t), forearm (fa), elbow (e), reflecting the demands of powered flight. Bats from marsupial stock. ear (ea), knee (k), hind foot (hf), calcar (ca) and tragus (tr). also have some muscles lacking in other mammals, again related to their flying lifestyle. (See page xx.) 8 Bats: A World of Science and Mystery Introduction 9 Names of Bats know as the Little Brown Myotis and others as the Table 1. The diversity and distribution of modern bats. There are twenty families and >1300 species of living bats Although bats are mammals, some of the names that Little Brown Bat. Every species has one unique recognized today, and about ten new species are described every year. “Laryngeal” under Echolocation means that humans use for bats reflect the imagined dichotomy scientific name, but it may have several common the sounds used for echolocation are produced in the larynx (voice box). between their mammal-like and bird-like aspects. names as in the case of Myotis lucifugus–or none at Common Name Scientific Name # of Echolocation Diet Distribution (Box 1.1) The common French name for bat is all, for example, Onychonycteris finneyi, a fossil bat. Species Using scientific names increases the precision of “chauve souris” or “bald mouse.” In German, it is Old World Fruit Bats Pteropodidae 198 absent or fruit, flowers, Africa, Asia, Australia, fledermaus or flying mouse.