Page 111 - Atlas Of The World's Strangest Animals

BIG BROWN BAT 111

Squeezing into the secluded farm building through a hole in Soon she is back with the rest of the colony, eagerly licking
the roof, she first double-checks for danger. the faces of her young to bond with them.

Comparisons

There’s something undeniably cute about the big
brown bats’ almost doglike face, but you’d have to
be a bit batty to find South America’s wrinkled-
face bat (Centurio senex) as appealing. In fact,
these odd mammals cover their own faces up
when they’re resting.They do this by pulling the
excess skin from their chin over their head,
although no one knows they do it!

Big brown bat Wrinkled-face bat

another ‘sense’ entirely for getting around.This ‘sixth sense’ these clicks hit an object – up to 17m (55.8ft) in front
is called echolocation. Microbats (those belonging to the of them – the bats can judge their location and distance
suborder Microchiroptera) aren’t the only animals to use this from the object based on how long it takes to hear the
strange ability.At least two groups of birds echolocate, as returning echo. Many species of microbats make their own
do, more famously, whales. However, microbats have distinct and identifiable clicks, but these are typically
become masters of the art.Their echolocation is so beyond the range of human hearing and can be picked up
accurate they can skim moths off the surface of the only using a bat detector.With a good detector, it’s even
water and avoid silk-thin spiders’ webs, spun between the possible to tune in to specific species.
tops of the trees. Some microbats use their noses as well as their mouths
Echolocating works by using echoes to build up a 3D to produce clicks, but big brown bats have small noses. So,
picture of the world in sound. In the case of microbats, to improve their ultrasound ‘beam’, they shout! Big brown
the process begins with a series of ultrasound clicks, bats and hoary bats (Lasiurus cinereus) are the only bats that
which they generate through their open mouths.When produce audible noises in flight.

(c) 2011 Marshall Cavendish. All Rights Reserved.