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Bats
Jan 29, 2021 19:33:43 GMT
Post by Tringa on Jan 29, 2021 19:33:43 GMT
I get a regular briefing link from Nature. One of the recent articles led to some research, understandably given the pandemic, done on bats.
It got a bit technical but it was easy enough understand what it is about but a couple of bits of information surprised me.
One was that about 20% of all mammalian species are bats.
The other was related to the life span of bats. In general smaller animals do not live as long as larger ones. However, bats, most of which are small, have a much longer life span than other mammals of a similar mass.
When adjusted for body size only 19 species of mammal(out of a total of close to 6,400 species) live longer than humans and 18 of those are bats.
Dave
BTW the one other mammal of the 19 is the naked mole rat.
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Bats
Jan 30, 2021 21:02:41 GMT
Post by rowanberry on Jan 30, 2021 21:02:41 GMT
I had no idea there were so many! It's interesting that they have such a long life-span for their size, too... I wonder if flying rather than walking/running relieves stress on their spine and joints? (Hanging upside-down is supposed to be good for your back- could that be a factor?) Have you seen the YouTube videos of that woman who rescues bats in Australia? She's been uploading videos for several years now- the ones of them eating bananas are great. www.youtube.com/watch?v=6EqUqacEows
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Bats
Jan 31, 2021 10:40:24 GMT
Post by Psamathe on Jan 31, 2021 10:40:24 GMT
.... It's interesting that they have such a long life-span for their size, too... I wonder if flying rather than walking/running relieves stress on their spine and joints? (Hanging upside-down is supposed to be good for your back- could that be a factor?) I've no idea (so a question) but do animals that hibernate have longer life expectancy? Or that they go go into a state of torpor during poor weather. Does time spent in hibernation or torpor mean slower ageing? Ian
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Bats
Jan 31, 2021 14:11:01 GMT
Post by Tringa on Jan 31, 2021 14:11:01 GMT
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