(ORDO NEWS) — Few flying animals can hover in the air like helicopters. And now American researchers have uncovered the secret of this ability in nectar-eating bats.
Bats have a diverse diet: some species prey on insects, others fish, others drink the blood of warm-blooded animals, fourth feed on fruits, and fifths feast on flower nectar.
Each mode of feeding requires its own style of flight, but the most energy-intensive is demonstrated by nectar-eating species of animals, hovering next to flowers like hummingbirds.
Using high-speed infrared video cameras, an international team of researchers from the US, Canada and Panama observed the feeding sessions of shrew-like long-tongued vampires.
These bats are known as the mammals with the fastest metabolism on earth, comparable to that of a hummingbird. They must regularly drink flower nectar in order not to starve to death.
Each feeding session lasted only a second and a half: the animals flew up to the artificial “flowers” and, working with their tongues, sucked out their portion of nectar.
Scientists drew attention to an unusual feature of vampires: their extremely long sensitive vibrissae – stiff hairs sticking out of their muzzles.
Presumably, these sensory organs, touching the flower while feeding, provide bats with additional information about their position in space and allow them to adjust their flight in order to continue to “hang” in place.
To test this hypothesis, the scientists trimmed the vibrissae of several mice and then released them to feed again.
Such animals behaved much less dexterously and accurately around artificial “flowers”: they were often jerked from side to side, which reduced the efficiency of feeding.
After such an experiment, the researchers had to keep the “trimmed” animals in the laboratory for several days before releasing them back into the jungle.
In most bats, vibrissae are short and randomly oriented, but in nectar-eating vampires they resemble those of a cat and serve for precise spatial orientation in the complete darkness of the corolla of the flower.
The researchers believe that this feature reflects the complex and subtle relationships of such bats with the flowers they pollinate: the latter often “adjust” the shape of the corolla to the capabilities of a particular bat species.
While the animal, hovering in the air, sucks out the nectar, the anthers of the plant cover its head with pollen.
But if a bat with clipped vibrissae begins to be “pulled”, most of the pollen will fall off. As a result, future generations of nectarivores will have nutritional problems.
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