Many of you have probably heard the expression “blind as a bat.” This isn’t true. They are not blind, but since they hunt at night, their vision isn’t much use. Yet, you’ll never see a bat run into a wall, a post, or any other object. How can they do that when they’re “blind?” A bat has an amazing ability. It can see with its ears! It’s called echo-location. A bat emits high-frequency sounds out of its mouth or nostrils. The sound then knocks off any object and is reflected back to the bat, which then “picks up” the sound with its ears. The sound is then translated by the brain into images, and the bat knows if what’s in front of him is food or something else. Can scientists explain how this amazing mechanism evolves? No. Like the Bombardier beetle, the bat has no advantage over its predecessor unless the whole system worked, so the mutated mistake would die out before it had the chance to evolve the whole system. No way to evolve here.

Other interesting facts about bats:-

• There are nearly 1,000 species of bats in the world. Because they consume quantities of “bugs” such as mosquitoes, bats are a natural form of insect control. For instance, one little brown bat can catch 600 mosquitoes or more an hour.
• Bats are the only flying mammals and produce milk for their young. Some kinds of bats hibernate. They build up fat during the summer so that they can live through the winter.
• It is one of the world’s longest-lived mammals for its size, with life spans of almost 40 years. There are over 1000 known species of bats, just about a fourth of all mammal species. Most of these bats would fit in the palm of your hand.
• Bat droppings in caves support whole ecosystems of unique organisms, including bacteria useful in detoxifying wastes, improving detergents, and producing gasohol and antibiotics.

Categories: Animals