Curious, and perhaps more facts about bats unknown to you

• Curious and perhaps even unknown to you the facts about bats

In the opinion of many paleontologists and scientists were bats on Earth millions of years ago, before the people, and are among the most fascinating creatures in the world.

Even though bats do not have a very good reputation in terms of public perception, they really are - very cool creatures.

You wonder what makes them so cool? Then read these 25 incredible facts about bats that you could not know!

25. The scientific name of bats, Chiroptera, from the Greek words "cheir" (hand) + "pteron" (wing), that is, "bats".

24. The word "bat", which means in English "bat", appeared in 1570 from the Middle English word 'Bakke', which is associated with Gammalsvenskby word "natbakka", or "night bat" and the Norse word " leđrblaka ", or" leather flappers. "

23. In the year 600 BC. e. famous Greek fabulist Aesop told a fable about a bat, which lent money to start a business. The business went bankrupt, and she was forced to hide in the daytime, to avoid a meeting with those who should. According to Aesop, which is why the bats appear only at night.

22. Bats are divided into two main groups: fruit bats, large bats, which feed mainly on fruit, and bats that feed on insects, frogs, blood, fish, lizards and birds.

21. Bats that feed on frogs, can distinguish the safe production of toxic, listening to the calls of frogs male.

20. Scientists believe that bats first appeared 65-100 million years ago - at the same time as the dinosaurs. The earliest known fruit bats lived 35 million years ago. Many scientists believe that fruit bats are more closely related to primates (including human) than with bats.

19. In China and Japan, bats are a symbol of happiness. In Chinese, the word for "bat" and "luck", is pronounced the same way - "fu" ( "fu").

18. The bat wings consist of phalanxes of fingers covered skin membrane. Patagia is almost 95% of the body surface. Patagia bats helps them regulate their body temperature, blood pressure, fluid balance and gas exchange.

17. Bats are the only mammals that can fly. The difference between bats and flying squirrels (other mammals, which, as many mistakenly think, "are able" to fly) is that bats can actively control their flight, while flying squirrels can only plan in the air.

16. In contrast, birds that flap their all forelimbs bats flap their elongated fingers.

15. Scientists have used an anticoagulant saliva of the vampire bat bats to treat people who have suffered strokes and suffering from cardiovascular diseases.

14. Contrary to popular belief, bats are not blind. Many bats see well, and some species can even distinguish between UV light.

13. But if their vision is not enough you impressive, another interesting fact about bats is that they can hear sounds at a frequency of 20-120.000 Hz. That there is something to compare, let's say that a person can hear sounds at a frequency of 20-20.000 Hz, and the dog, for example, at a frequency of 40-60.000 Hz.

12. Bats - the slowest reproducing mammals in the world in terms of size, pregnancy and they last longer than other animals of the same size.

11. About 70% of bats feed on insects. So you have an idea about how much they love insects, for example, that one average individual can eat 600 bugs in one hour, which is similar to it, as if a normal person would eat something like twenty pizzas per night.

10. The story of Dracula originated in Eastern Europe, but the real vampire bat bats are found only in Central and South America.

9. Bats live on every continent except Antarctica. They can be found as far north - in the Arctic Circle and as far south - in Argentina and on the southern tip of South Africa.

8. The vampire bat bats are the only mammals that feed only on blood. Not surprisingly, they were called vampires.

7. Contrary to popular belief, vampire bat bats actually do not suck blood. They have it, as a rule, "absorb" their tongues to two teaspoons per night. Blood moves through the mouth of two channels positioned under the tongue. Their body uses only red blood cells (erythrocytes), and within two minutes after the "meal", the bat body gets rid of the blood plasma in the form of urine.

6. The vampire bat bats every day should drink the amount of blood equal to their own weight. To give some perspective, as many say, the man-vampire, such as Dracula, would have every night to drink the blood of a guest table, in order to survive.

5. The largest bats in the world is the large flying fox. The scope of its wings is 1, 5-1, 8 m.

4. Cave Bracken Bat Cave in Texas is the largest colony of bats in the world. It lives more than 20 million individuals, which is almost two times more than the number of people living in New York, one of the most populated cities in the world.

3. The survey, conducted by TV channel Animal Planet, vampire bat bats were on the third place among the most dangerous animals - just after wolves and gorillas and to piranhas.

2. Pulse Myotis so weak at rest, that is 18 beats per minute, compared with 880 attacks during the activity.

1. Most of us believe that animals, especially mammals, live only 10-15 years. However, some species in the wild can live up to 30 years.