Bats can be said to be one of the animals we are most familiar with. I believe many people have seen them with their own eyes or even had close contact with them. In the eyes of many people, bats have now become synonymous with evil. After all, they carry hundreds of viruses. The COVID-19 epidemic has made many people change their minds when talking about "bats".
But what many people may not know is that most bats are excellent insecticide helpers. They can also pollinate more than 700 kinds of plants and help spread seeds in forests. Today, there are nearly 1,300 species of bats distributed around the world. This number means that of the more than 5,000 species of mammals currently discovered, nearly a quarter of them are bats, and each species of bat has different living habits and morphological characteristics. .
Below, the editor has compiled 10 of the most “unnatural” looking bats. If you haven’t seen them with your own eyes, I’m afraid you won’t believe that these are real animals.
(Some bats look weird, so watch with caution)
Breton's scapular fruit bat
This bat has another nickname called "dog-headed bat". Why? You will know it by looking at its appearance. The bat's head has a pair of large noses and mouths, and at first glance, it looks like a dog with wings. When many people saw the photo for the first time, they thought it was a Photoshopped image, but it is indeed a real animal.
Honduran white bat
Most bats are ugly, but the Honduran white bat is very soft and cute, and can be called the most handsome bat in the world. This bat is mainly distributed in the woodlands of Central America. It is only 37-47 mm in size. It is the smallest vegetable-eating bat. It is covered with fluffy "white hair" and its nose and ears are orange. Look. It looks somewhat similar to a piglet.
Golden-crowned Flying Fox
Golden-crowned Flying Fox is mainly distributed in Philippines. It is the largest bat in the world, with a wingspan of up to 1.5 meters. It often wraps its body with its wide wings, like a dark wizard wearing dark colors. cloak. When hanging upside down from a tree, they even look a bit like Count Dracula in the movie.
Hammer-headed fruit bat
This is also a very "unnatural" looking bat, with a weird head shape. At first glance, it looks like a "cow head and horse face". Although they look scary, they are vegetarian. Their main food is figs , and they will also eat some other local fruits. It is the largest bat in Africa and is mainly found in areas near the equator of Africa.
Panda Bat
This is an extremely rare bat, and scientists know very little about it. It was not until 2013 that researchers discovered the first one in South Sudan . The total number found so far is only in single digits. This bat has the same black and white stripes as the panda, and its skull, ears, and wings are different from other bats, so scientists classified it as a new species.
Yellow-winged bat
The biggest feature of this bat is that its wing membranes, ears and nose are all obviously yellow, which can be recognized at a glance. This bat is mainly found in lowland forests and moist grasslands of Africa and feeds mainly on insects.
Tube-nosed fruit bat
This bat is a new species discovered by scientists in the mountains of Papua New Guinea in 2009. It looks like an alien animal. Many netizens feel that this bat looks very similar to Master Yoda in "Star Wars".
Rafinesque's long-eared bat
This is a bat distributed in the southeastern United States. As the name suggests, this bat has ears as long as a rabbit. This bat mainly feeds on insects such as mosquitoes, flies and beetles .
South American fruit bat
This bat mainly lives in South America. It is characterized by a protruding "sun visor" on its forehead, as if wearing a sun hat, and it looks quite cute. Scientists also know very little about this bat, with only a few specimens discovered.
Bumblebee bat
This bat is also called Thai pig-nosed bat . This is the smallest bat and the smallest mammal in the world. Its maximum body size is less than 3 centimeters, smaller than a human finger. Its wingspan is only 8 centimeters and it weighs only 2 grams. It is not much larger than a wasp. , that’s why it’s called the bumblebee bat. This bat is found in caves in Myanmar and Thailand and is considered one of the most endangered species in the world due to habitat loss.
Nature is really full of all kinds of wonderful creatures!
