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Bats. Usually the first thing to enter a persons mind when they hear this word is Scary, vicious, rats with wings. But bats arent really like that at all. That image was just created by Hollywood in their attempt to frighten others. Bats are apart of a whole different order than the rodent. There are approximately 1, 100 species of bats in the world, which is about twenty percent of all mammal species.
The two main species are the megabits and the microbes. Examples of two species (both of which are in the microbial species of bats) are the bumblebee bat, and the common vampire bat. These two incredible creatures of the same species are very different. The average common vampire bats length from head and body is 2. 7 - 3. 5 inches in length (the size of an adults thumb). The wingspan is about eight inches, while the bumblebee bats wing span is about five inches, and its length is 30 - 40 mm.
The bumblebee has reddish-brown or grey upper parts, and the underside of the bat is always a paler version of the top. For the common vampire bat its furs are brown, gray or brownish-red. The vampire bat is also lighter on the under side. The microbes lack under fur, they only have guard hairs or are naked. A huge difference between these two bats is their diets. The bumblebee bat eats spiders as well as other small insects that have been gleaned off foliage.
The bumblebee bat can also catch insects as its flying. The vampire bat is a totally different story all together. The vampire bat, of course, eats blood; but he doesnt actually suck it. They lab it up like a dog drinking from his water bowl. First the bat pricks an animal with its two large front teeth, often in the foot or leg of a sleeping mammal or bird. An anticoagulant in the vampires saliva causes the blood to flow without clotting, allowing the bat to lick up its nutritious, protein-filled diet.
Vampires take only two tablespoons of blood while the host animal continues to sleep. Also vampires do not suck humans blood. Apparently they dont like it. A vampire bat needs blood at least once every few days to survive.
A lot of times, if a vampire cant get blood, it will ask another bat for a blood transfusion. The blood is exchanged mouth-to-mouth in a motion that looks like kissing. Another difference is their habitat. The common vampire bats are native to the Americans, and range from Mexico to Brazil, Chile, and Argentina. Vampire bats tend to live in almost completely dark places like caves, old wells, hollow trees, and even buildings. Their colonies can range from a single individual to thousands of vampire bats.
They often roost with another species with another species of bat. The bumblebee bat is found in a tiny region of western Thailand, in Sai You National Park, and Kanchanaburi Province (although, recently they have also been discovered in Myanmar). Bumblebee bats roost in hot upper chambers of caves in limestone hills, just about as far away from the entrance as possible so that the small colony, about fifteen individuals, can fit without the bats being too close together as the sleep. They are most active when they fly around the tops of bamboo clumps and teak trees to feed on insects. Since people think that bats are such a threat, they kill them whenever they get the chance. Of course some bats look strange and at times very scary, but they are mammals just like us, and we need to protect them before they are all gone.
In 1982, the Royal Forest Department of the Thailand Government found only 160 bumblebee bats living in three caves. The little bumblebee bats are now considered to be one of the twelve most endangered species on the planet. The vampire bat has had a healthy population for a while until they began killing 100, 000 of cows by spreading diseases. So in certain areas in the world governments would actually gather groups to try and eradicate the vampire bats. Often, people kill other species of bats thinking they are killing the vampire bat.
These loveable mammals need help to stay in our world. Many people dont know that there are good to all bats. For example, dra culin, a blood-thinning drug developed from vampire bat saliva, helps prevent strokes and heart attacks in humans! Bats are just like us; they are born live, they eat, they sleep, they have babies, and the die.
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Research essay sample on Common Vampire Bats Common Vampire Bat Species
