Bats Have Upsides As Well As Downsides
May 18, 2020 at 4:29 p.m.
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For some strange reason bats, carry these diseases without getting sick. On the other hand, according to Michael Harvey, in his book “Bats of the United States and Canada,” they are among the most misunderstood animals worldwide, although as consumers of enormous numbers of insects, they rank among the most beneficial. In other parts of the world, in addition to controlling insects, bats are extremely beneficial in dispersing seeds and pollinating plants; numerous plants depend entirely on bats for these services.
Bats have also received a great deal of publicity in the past few years, mainly due to a fungal disease (Geomyces destructans) first noted in New York in early 2006. The disease, termed white nose syndrome, endangers many local bat populations and has the potential to cause extinction.
Studies of bats have contributed to medical advances including navigational aids for the blind. Unfortunately, bats can also be vectors for disseminating the rabies virus and histoplasmosis infections in humans. In the United States, bats (Chiroptera) are the most common source of indigenously acquired human rabies infections, and approximately 2,000 rabies positive bats are collected annually after humans or domesticated animals have been exposed to them.
Interesting Facts About Bats
Bats are unique animals; there are nearly 1,000 species in the world.
They have been around since the age of the dinosaurs and are the only mammals that actually fly. Bats are nocturnal, live in secluded caves and roosts and are much different from all other mammals.
They can transmit high-frequency bursts of sound and pick up echoes to locate and devour insects and other prey even in total darkness. Bats today live in almost every kind of habitat worldwide.
They are distributed all around the world; more than 200 species are found in Africa and Madagascar, more than 300 in South and Central America and the Caribbean, and a similar number in South East Asia and Australasia.
Bats are also well represented in higher latitudes; about 40 species in both North America and western and central Europe. They have found their way to most islands, however remote, where they may be the only native mammals. There is circumstantial evidence for the very early origin of bats, as far back as 70-100 million years, meaning that bats may have watched the demise of the dinosaurs in the mass extinction at the end of the Cretaceous period.
Bats range in size from the smallest mammal (the bumblebee bat that weighs from 1.5 to 2 grams) to 1 kilogram flying foxes with wing spans of more than 1.5 meters.
Bats feed on a wider variety of food than any other mammal. Most dine on insects and other arthropods. One species takes a liking to scorpions, others eat fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, mammals (including other bats), fruit, nectar, pollen and, unfortunately, blood.
The common vampire bat found in tropical and subtropical areas of the Americas, must have blood meals on a regular basis to survive, and in close-knit groups within a colony, bats will regurgitate some of their last meal to a buddy who has been unable to feed.
To feed exclusively on blood, vampire bats have heat sensors in the nose leaf (a fleshy process on the face used for echolocation) for locating capillary-rich areas of skin; modified canines for fur clipping; long, sharp incisors for painlessly opening a wound; anticoagulants to prevent clotting; and a grooved tongue to help move blood rapidly into the mouth.
A specialized stomach and kidneys rapidly remove the blood plasma, which the bats often begin to excrete before they have finished their meal. Vampire bats feed primarily on domestic animals, but will take blood from native mammals and birds.
They can live to be about 9 years old, but can reach 20 years in captivity. The common vampire bat is one of the few bat species considered an agricultural pest, due to its habit of feeding on livestock and its spreading of diseases, which has resulted in rabies outbreaks in cattle. Recent incidents of vampire bats attacking humans in Peru, Brazil and El Salvador have also attracted worldwide press interest, compounding the species’ already negative and misunderstood public perception.
Final Thoughts
Recent research has demonstrated that cells from an insect eating brown bat can be persistently infected with MERS coronavirus for months due to important adaptations from both the bat and the virus working together. Instead of killing bat cells as the virus does with human cells, the MERS virus enters a long term relationship with the host, maintained by the bat’s unique super immune system. COVID-19 is thought to operate in the same way. There is still much to be learned about bats.
Max Sherman is a medical writer and pharmacist retired from the medical device industry. He has taught college courses on regulatory and compliance issues at Ivy Tech, Grace College and Butler University. Sherman has an unquenchable thirst for knowledge on all levels. Eclectic Science, the title of his column, touches on famed doctors and scientists, human senses, aging, various diseases, and little-known facts about many species, including their contributions to scientific research.
For some strange reason bats, carry these diseases without getting sick. On the other hand, according to Michael Harvey, in his book “Bats of the United States and Canada,” they are among the most misunderstood animals worldwide, although as consumers of enormous numbers of insects, they rank among the most beneficial. In other parts of the world, in addition to controlling insects, bats are extremely beneficial in dispersing seeds and pollinating plants; numerous plants depend entirely on bats for these services.
Bats have also received a great deal of publicity in the past few years, mainly due to a fungal disease (Geomyces destructans) first noted in New York in early 2006. The disease, termed white nose syndrome, endangers many local bat populations and has the potential to cause extinction.
Studies of bats have contributed to medical advances including navigational aids for the blind. Unfortunately, bats can also be vectors for disseminating the rabies virus and histoplasmosis infections in humans. In the United States, bats (Chiroptera) are the most common source of indigenously acquired human rabies infections, and approximately 2,000 rabies positive bats are collected annually after humans or domesticated animals have been exposed to them.
Interesting Facts About Bats
Bats are unique animals; there are nearly 1,000 species in the world.
They have been around since the age of the dinosaurs and are the only mammals that actually fly. Bats are nocturnal, live in secluded caves and roosts and are much different from all other mammals.
They can transmit high-frequency bursts of sound and pick up echoes to locate and devour insects and other prey even in total darkness. Bats today live in almost every kind of habitat worldwide.
They are distributed all around the world; more than 200 species are found in Africa and Madagascar, more than 300 in South and Central America and the Caribbean, and a similar number in South East Asia and Australasia.
Bats are also well represented in higher latitudes; about 40 species in both North America and western and central Europe. They have found their way to most islands, however remote, where they may be the only native mammals. There is circumstantial evidence for the very early origin of bats, as far back as 70-100 million years, meaning that bats may have watched the demise of the dinosaurs in the mass extinction at the end of the Cretaceous period.
Bats range in size from the smallest mammal (the bumblebee bat that weighs from 1.5 to 2 grams) to 1 kilogram flying foxes with wing spans of more than 1.5 meters.
Bats feed on a wider variety of food than any other mammal. Most dine on insects and other arthropods. One species takes a liking to scorpions, others eat fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, mammals (including other bats), fruit, nectar, pollen and, unfortunately, blood.
The common vampire bat found in tropical and subtropical areas of the Americas, must have blood meals on a regular basis to survive, and in close-knit groups within a colony, bats will regurgitate some of their last meal to a buddy who has been unable to feed.
To feed exclusively on blood, vampire bats have heat sensors in the nose leaf (a fleshy process on the face used for echolocation) for locating capillary-rich areas of skin; modified canines for fur clipping; long, sharp incisors for painlessly opening a wound; anticoagulants to prevent clotting; and a grooved tongue to help move blood rapidly into the mouth.
A specialized stomach and kidneys rapidly remove the blood plasma, which the bats often begin to excrete before they have finished their meal. Vampire bats feed primarily on domestic animals, but will take blood from native mammals and birds.
They can live to be about 9 years old, but can reach 20 years in captivity. The common vampire bat is one of the few bat species considered an agricultural pest, due to its habit of feeding on livestock and its spreading of diseases, which has resulted in rabies outbreaks in cattle. Recent incidents of vampire bats attacking humans in Peru, Brazil and El Salvador have also attracted worldwide press interest, compounding the species’ already negative and misunderstood public perception.
Final Thoughts
Recent research has demonstrated that cells from an insect eating brown bat can be persistently infected with MERS coronavirus for months due to important adaptations from both the bat and the virus working together. Instead of killing bat cells as the virus does with human cells, the MERS virus enters a long term relationship with the host, maintained by the bat’s unique super immune system. COVID-19 is thought to operate in the same way. There is still much to be learned about bats.
Max Sherman is a medical writer and pharmacist retired from the medical device industry. He has taught college courses on regulatory and compliance issues at Ivy Tech, Grace College and Butler University. Sherman has an unquenchable thirst for knowledge on all levels. Eclectic Science, the title of his column, touches on famed doctors and scientists, human senses, aging, various diseases, and little-known facts about many species, including their contributions to scientific research.
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