Dear friends, Happy New Year! Xiaobian here first gives you a good old age, and wishes everyone a happy new year!
I have to say that what should have been a happy, peaceful and harmonious Spring Festival made us live so sadly and tragically, and a sudden epidemic disaster plunged our 1.3 billion compatriots into a haze.
In this unprecedented epidemic resistance, bats are unexpectedly popular, the reason is that it carries a new coronavirus related to the epidemic, virology experts believe that the new coronavirus is likely to come from bats, the reason is that the virus gene sequencing similarity is almost the same, in the end the current new crown pneumonia virus is not directly related to bats still need to be carefully studied by scientists, bats are not lying shot We leave it alone, Xiaobian This issue for everyone to use an alternative style of writing to popularize bats, Specially invited the spokesperson in the bat----- "Batman" to popularize the bat's own story.
Batman
Batman: Hey! Hello everyone! I am the spokesperson of bats Batman, I am not the Batman in the picture above, I do not have superpowers and do not have the ability to do heroic righteousness, I am a bat expert invited by Xiaobian, and I am very happy to answer all people's questions about bats.
Editor: Is the new coronavirus directly related to your bats?
Batman: I heard that there was an outbreak of the new coronavirus pneumonia in society, and I feel sympathy and sadness. However, most of our bats are in a very unsatisfactory situation at present, we try to stay away from humans day and night, try not to have interest entanglements, try not to violate the river water with human well water, but we really have to be afraid of the insatiable mouth of human beings, and many of our kind will accidentally go to their table.
Canine bats
Although we bats have their own unique immune system and are invincible, but can not stop humans from coveting our bodies, our body is indeed a veritable virus reservoir, carrying a deadly virus weapon to humans, such as Ebola, influenza, rabies, SARS, MERS (Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus) and new coronavirus, etc., in order to avoid unnecessary transmission, we live in caves to sleep on the wall with branches hanging from branches, as far away from human sight and life as possible. We try not to harass humans, but humans always backfire and threaten our survival. We are not sure whether our virus will spread directly to humans, and we do not want to be responsible for a major epidemic in humans, but in fact, those deadly viruses can indeed cause major problems for human beings.
Editor: Do you think people have prejudices and misconceptions about bats?
Batman: We bats belong to hairy flying vertebrate mammals, by no means birds and rodents (rats), some older people say that we are close to mice, say that mice that eat salt become bats, we never carry this pot, we and mice are neither close relatives nor cousins, to say that close relatives are close to primates, we existed long before the extinction of dinosaurs, and unlike most mammals, some of our bat species need to hibernate. We make up more than 1,200 of the more than 5,500 species of mammals in the world, a large group of species.
Long-winged bat
Most of us bats live in a dark environment, although there is little entanglement with human interests, but still by humans to wear an evil hat and notoriety, always associate us with vampires, in fact, only 3 species of our species will suck the blood of humans and animals for a living, most of the bats are innocent, hope that humans understand the bat population, in addition to the species of large bat suborders and human interests entangled, most of us are very conscious and keep to ourselves, We have lived on the earth for tens of millions of years, made an indelible contribution to maintaining the balance of the earth's ecosystem, we have eaten insects that are harmful to human beings, and actively safeguarded the environmental interests needed by human beings.
Southern bat
Editor: How do bats divide species in biology? What is the current distribution of China?
Batman: We have about 1200 kinds of bats in the world, scientists call us "pterodactyls (orders)", dividing us into large bat suborders and small bat suborders, a total of 18 families, China occupies 6 families and more than 130 species. From a biomolecular point of view, China has 91 natural populations (native species), 27 marginal species (on national borders) and 19 undefined species (alien species or very few species).
★ The suborder Flying Fox, a family of bats because they like to eat fruits, nectar, leaves and other plants are called "fruit bats", the appearance of bats in the family Pteropodidae is huge, the maximum wingspan of up to 1.8 meters, mainly living in the old continent (Eurasia and The African continent) tropical and subtropical margins; the great bat suborder in the world about 200 species, mainly distributed in Africa, Southeast Asia and China, the distribution in China is also very wide, Yunnan, Liangguang, Southern Sichuan, Hainan and other places.
Fox bat family
Chinese fruit bat species are mainly brown fruit bats, because of a brown fur and are named brown fruit bats, they prefer to eat human lychees and longan, so there are some entanglements with human interests, the main reason is also the expansion of human territory, resulting in their loss of habitat and overlapping interests.
In addition to brown fruit bats, there are also a small number of "fruit bats" in China, mainly concentrated in the western and southern Parts of Yunnan, Xishuangbanna, which are generally rare, and the main feature is that unlike other fruit bats, they have a small tail. In China, there is also a funny-looking "dog bat", as the name suggests, it is said that this fruit bat in the study of zoologist Dr. Zhang Libiao won the Nobel Prize in Biological Funny in 2010, this fruit bat is very common in Yunnan and Liangguang.
Brown fruit bat
Other fruit bats of the fox bat family include Ryukyu fruit bat, Thai fruit bat, conescent fruit bat, large long-tongue fruit bat and small long-tongue fruit bat, etc. Brown fruit bat and canine fruit bat are more common species in China, which are prone to conflict with local agricultural production.
★ There are 17 families under the suborder Of small bats, estimated to be more than 1000 species, the smallest body size is only 3-4 grams of weight, the common feature is different from the suborder of large bats, will use ultrasound and "echo positioning technology", whether it is flying predation or avoiding obstacles, to use these 2 technologies, the food range is very wide, but mainly concentrated in insects, there are a small number of plant feeding species and animal blood for food, of which the more typical is the leaf mouth bat, most of which also eat fruit like the large bat suborder, A small number of people mainly suck the blood of humans and mammals.
Suborder Bats are extremely widespread throughout the world, and can be found on almost all land except the Antarctic continent, even in the extremely harsh environment of the Tibetan Plateau.
The most typical family of bats, about seventy or eighty species are found worldwide, mainly in the Old World. Its appearance is characterized by the fact that the nasal lobe of the head looks like a chrysanthemum and is named, the function of the nasal lobe is to emit ultrasound, the ultrasonic wave emitted by the bat of the family Manta is a constant frequency, and the principle of radar was invented under the inspiration of the bat's ultrasonic and echo positioning technology.
Chrysanthemums
The hoofed bat family is related to the chrysanthemum bat family, the difference is that the nose lobes of the hoof bat are very similar to the horseshoe and get the name, both are constant frequency bats, and in molecular biology, scientists prefer to combine the two into one. The hoofed bat family is divided into three major genera: large-hoofed bat, middle-hoofed bat (three-leaf hoofed bat) and Platts hoofed bat, the main difference is the number of nasal lobe and ventral leaflets, the three from 4 abdominal leaflets to 2, each difference in quantity.
Bats of the family Hoofed Bats
Pseudo-vampire bats, look at the name to know that it does not suck animal or human blood, but they are more maddening than blood sucking, they eat the decomposing carcasses of predators for a living, the world is currently found 5 species, China distributed 2 species, Malay vampire bat and Indian vampire bat, the nose lobe is complex in shape, the appearance of the body is very beautiful. The pseudosampire bat family is at a critical extinction point in China.
Pseudosampire bats
There is no trace of the rattail bat in China, only 4 species have been found in the world, and its appearance characteristics, as the name suggests, are named after a free tail that is as long as a mouse, and is rarely distributed in the world.
Rat-tailed bats
Concave-faced bat family, also known as pig-nosed bat, the nose looks very much like a pig nose, is the world's smallest bat, about 2-3 cm in size, weighs only about 3-5 grams, is also one of the smallest mammals in the world, first found in Thailand, because it is completely different from its species, so it is divided into a family, the world has only found this one.
Bats of the family Concave-faced Bat family
Squid-tailed bat family, distributed in China, called black-haired tomb bat, the main appearance feature is more developed similar to the tail of the whip, in the country there is an important part of the genus was separately classified into a tomb bat genus, the reason is that the original discovery is in the cemetery, but the actual habitat is still a cave or stone crack, the world has found more than 50 kinds of species.
Scavengery bats
Night-concave face bat family, the characteristic difference is still in the nasal lobes of the face, 16 species have been found in the world, and no such bats have been found in China.
Bats of the family Nocturnal manta
The sucker-foot bat family, a class of small bats living in the Americas, the main appearance feature is that the wrist has a suction cup, which can be firmly sucked on leaves or branches, which is one of the rarest in the world, and there is currently only one and no two.
Bats of the family Pteropodidae
The family Short-tailed Bat, whose main appearance is characterized by an extremely short tail that looks a lot like a mouse, there are only 2 species in the world, and it is currently found in New Zealand and is not found elsewhere.
Short-tailed bats
Rabbit lip bat family, the appearance characteristics as the name suggests is that the lips look like rabbit lips, the special feature of this kind of bat is the unique food, with the characteristics of predatory fish, currently only found in South America and the Gulf of Mexico, the body advantage face is longer, the claws are larger and sharper, very suitable for catching fish on the surface of the water, using echo positioning technology, the ultrasonic waves are emitted to the surface of the water, after detecting the fish, the sound waves will return, determine the position after the lightning speed of the fish to catch, and then fly away.
Rabbit-lipped bats
The family Manta, also a rare species, has only found 10 species in the world, and the main feature is that the nose leaves look like a rotten beard and get the name.
Bats of the family Mantariae
Leaf mouth bat family, in South America and Latin America evolved very successful bat family, its species is rich and widely distributed, a small number of such bats also carry a "demon" title, known as "vampire bat", whether it is animals or humans, as long as they are stared at while sleeping, basically they have the final say, want to smoke as much as they want to wash, blood sucking will emit an anti-blood clotting protease and sedative, so that the wound has been bleeding and will not feel pain, And it spreads some deadly rabies viruses. But don't worry, although there are more than 160 species of bats in the world, fortunately, most of them eat plants and do not exist in China.
Bats of the family Pterodactaceae
Phyllonorycter pterophoridae
White bats, the most recognized bats in the world as the cutest, most cute and prettiest, don't imagine how evil they look, as soon as you see them you will immediately change your mind. Its nose, ears, and claws were orange, and the rest of the body was all white as snow fur, like a fluff ball wearing a white coat, revealing only yellow parts, and its chubby body gathered together like a nest of piglets. Bats of the family White Bat are mainly distributed in Honduras, South America, so they are also called Honduran White Bats, and live in a symbiotic relationship with a plant called brown-tailed banana.
Bats of the family White Bat family
The family Smoky Bat, whose main appearance is characterized by the color of its fur like a smoky gray, is not distributed in China.
Bats of the family Smoky Manta
The family Panphonaceae, a smaller family, is characterized by the fact that the wings fold up like a disc and get its name, there are only 3 species in the world, and there is no distribution in China.
Bats of the family Pan-winged Bats
The long-legged bat family, the beauty pageant champion among bats, has two sexy long legs and is named after it, and 8 species are currently found in the world, and there is no distribution in China.
Canine snout bat family, the main appearance of the mouth open like a dog mouth and named, the world is widely distributed, there are about 100 kinds, China is also distributed, in China is also called wrinkled lip bat, mainly wide-eared dog kiss bat, behavioral characteristics are good at crawling on the ground, crawling faster, tail in the crawling state when high up like the antenna of the walkie-talkie. The population of the canine bat canopies in the Americas up to millions.
Canine-eared bats
Bat family, the most common type of bat, is also the world's largest group, there are about 400 species, the most common in China is the long-eared bat, the largest is the southern bat, the body size wingspan of up to 50 cm or so, the current frequent extinction of one, its fierce temperament is rare.
Bats
Most bats in the bat family are relatively small, there are 3 genera species in China, the rat-eared bat looks very similar to a mouse; the long-winged bat has narrow and long wings and is flexible; the bamboo bat body is flattened, especially the skull of the head is flat, living in the bamboo tube, and a small gap can be drilled into, and there are 2 species in China.
Editor: Where are your habitats?
Batman: sparsely populated deep mountains and old forests, dilapidated human buildings, caves or mines, grassland mammals' caves, etc., especially some ancient buildings are most suitable for habitation, it can be said that bats are everywhere, almost all bats do not overlap with human activity time.
Short-eared dog bat (suborder Large bat)
Editor: What are the more well-known and rare species in China?
Batman: Bigfoot rat-eared bat, a kind of fish-eating bat, has appeared on CCTV's "Approaching Science" and "Discovery Journey", as well as the BBC's "Well China" column, which, like most bats, follow the behavior habit of day and night, found in the large reservoir area near Xiayunling Township in Fangshan District, Beijing, Chinese scientists found in the study tracking that most of the recipes of bigfoot rat ear bats are still insects, perhaps related to the reduction of fish resources. A very prominent feature of the big-footed rat-eared bat is its two longer claws, and the length of the claws can be folded up to be as long as the tibia, which is very suitable for its fish-catching characteristics.
Bigfoot rat-eared bat
Tube-nosed bats, whose nose resembles a water pipe and are brownish-yellow in color, are also called white-bellied tube bats.
Nasal tube bat
The biggest feature of the appearance of the marjoram is to wrap the entire body with its own wings membrane.
Martebell manta rays
The pointed-eared rat-eared bat is a close relative of the big-footed rat-eared bat, the difference is that the ears are pointed, the foot claws are significantly smaller than the former, do not belong to the same species, and there is also a difference in color, gray-black.
Beijing wide-eared bat, characterized by wider ears, is a biological business card of Beijing, found in 2007 in Beijing, once thought that there are only 2 species in the world, one is the European wide-eared bat, the other is the Asian wide-eared bat, Chinese scientists will be Beijing wide-eared bat DNA sequenced, found and the first two wide-eared bats there is a big difference, so it was included in a new variety.
Beijing wide-eared bat
Long-eared bat, a close relative of the Beijing broad-eared bat, has slender ears and emits a high frequency of ultrasound, which is suitable for catching some smaller insects for food.
Northern mouse-eared bat
Editor: What are the characteristics of newborn bats?
Batman: Similar to rodents, when born, the whole body is bare and slippery without a hair, the eyes are in a closed state, shrinking under the belly of the mother bat to feed, a litter is generally about 2, and the number of breeding of different species is different. Female adult bats are similar to humans, with 2 nipples on their upper thorax.
Bat cubs
Editor: How many years can bats live?
Batman: In fact, most of our bats have a long lifespan, the longest can live for more than 30 years, the shortest is more than ten years, far higher than the lifespan of rodent mice, scientists suspect that our lifespan is related to hibernation, they are trying to find clues to the relationship between our longevity genes and hibernation, which is likely to play a positive auxiliary role in some human diseases, such as allowing patients to enter a state of hibernation, reducing the metabolic function of the body, Wait until some diseases have the best treatment effect and plan to wake up and receive treatment.
Editor: Is there anything special about the reproductive strategy of bats?
Cat-eared bats
Batman: There is indeed a unique reproductive strategy, bats because of the habit of hibernation, as far as possible before the autumn to fat the body to store winter fat, when the autumn comes, the female and male complete mating and then enter hibernation, and the mating sperm is stored in the female's body, until the end of hibernation in the next spring, the sperm and the egg in the body to combine to develop the embryo. Such an advantage is to avoid the problem of decreased sperm quality and poor physical fitness caused by the weakness of male bats after hibernation, and it has to be said that bats have evolved such ingenious reproductive strategies in the evolutionary process to delay embryo implantation and development, which is a special example in reproductive biology.
Flat-cranial bat
Editor: Do you think it is important for humans to study bats?
Batman: This is related to some major epidemic spread of the virus, I heard that the Wuhan Institute of Virology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has long cooperated with some domestic scientists, when the SARS outbreak in 2003, Shi Zhengli and Zhang Shuyi 2 doctors have participated in the cooperation, in the bat's mouth and anus to extract virus body fluid samples, the samples back to the laboratory for virus isolation tests and research, for the virus spread of the epidemic prevention and control play a positive role, for the study and traceability of virus evolution has an important significance.
In addition, scientists must also make specimen samples for each kind of bat, scientifically measure each bat, obtain its various numbers, establish the necessary database, and lay a theoretical foundation for biology; collect the high-frequency (more than 20 kHz) sound waves emitted by various bats and form a database to determine the species of bats by judging the wavelength; through molecular biology, determine the genetic order of various bats, and establish a relevant database.
Dear friends, this article ends here, because most of us know very little about this type of animal, and if it were not for the new coronavirus pneumonia epidemic, people would have paid little attention to the topic of this type of animal. However, it is commendable that our biologists have been at the forefront of the world in the study of bats, and we thank them for their painstaking efforts and remember their contributions to scientific research.