LIFE PROCESSES - BAT

KINGDOM: Animalia PHYLUM: Chordata 

CLASS: Mammalia    

Bat

Movement

FlightOnly mammal that can achieve sustained

flightWings – webbed forelimbs; membrane is

VERY elasticDigits – bones periodically spaced out

among the wing flap; fan-shaped; very flexible due to low calcium levels

Body Covering○ Fur○ Membrane between digits - flexible

Support

Skeleton: fingers, humerous, radius, ulna, skull, spine, thumb, elbow joint

Digit bones are very flexible due to lack of calcium

Nutrition

Bugs - consumes 1/3 of it’s body weight in bugs each day.

Fruit Water – drink by skimming across

surface water and then licking fur Two sharp teeth to puncture through

hard shell of insect

Respiration

Breath air

Circulation Standard circulatory system; warm-blooded Heart is extremely large compared to size of

body; beats 1400 beats per minute down to 20 beats per minute depending on species

Because Bats hang upside down they have one-way valves in their arteries as well as their veins to help pump the blood through their body.

Valves will close to retain blood in body during inactivity to retain body heat or radiate heat from the body while extremely active such as flying

Excretion

Guano - Bat feces so rich in nutrients that they mine it an use it as fertilizer.

Responses

Echolocation – Bats use sonography to create a mental picture of what is in front of them.

Eyes – bats can see quite well Hibernation during cold months Touch receptors to help fine tune flying

and catching insects

Reproduction

Live birth Feed their young through mammary

glands