Fruit Bats Are the Best Pollinators (and Suppliers of Tequila)

One of the most important families of bats is thePteropodidae. Also known as the "Old World fruit bats," they hang out in tropical and subtropical parts of Africa, Eurasia, Australia and many Pacific Islands.

Remember the "gentle giants" we mentioned above? Those would be theflying foxes, enormous pteropodids who represent the largest bats alive today.

A species called the giant golden-crowned flying fox canweigh2.5 pounds (1.13 kilograms). You may be relieved to hear that it's a fruit-eater ("frugivore") with a taste for figs, which is hardly unusual.

"Pteropodids eat primarily fruit and nectar," says biologistLiam McGuire, assistant professor at Texas Tech University in an email. "For example, nectar from the flowers of eucalypt trees is a very important food source for several species of flying foxes in Australia. But Pteropodid [diets] can also include other plants (pollen, leaves) and sometimes insects."

You might think the name "Old World fruit bats" implies the existence of "New World fruit bats." And indeed, the Americas have no shortage of winged fruit fanciers.

ThePhyllostomidaeis another large bat family, one that's distributed across the neotropics of North, South and Central America, plus the Caribbean. While many species are committed insect-hunters, dozens of these animals incorporate plant matter into their diets.

Depending on the bat in question, fruits, nectars,pollenor seeds may be fair game.

"Frugivorous bats in both the Old World and the New World tropics eat a variety of fruits that tend to be scented, relatively large, green to yellow in color, and exposed away from branches and leaves,"Norberto Giannini, mammologist and research associate at the American Museum of Natural History, says via email.

Bananas,mangos, figs and dates are allfavorite foodsfor fruit bats.

The Old World pteropodids alone feed on more than 1,000 differentplant species. Most of these (71 percent) grow fruits the bats like to consume. Other plants may attract pteropodid visitors because of their flowers, leaves, nectars and sap. (Shoots and tree bark are fair game as well.)

通常,关系相互benefits.

Seeds swallowed by fruit bats get released elsewhere when the animals poop. According to a1999 study, tropical bats in some parts of Chiapas, Mexico, distribute more seeds in this manner than fruit-eating birds do.

After a forested place isdevastatedby wildfires, droughts or human activities, fruit bats help it bounce back.

Researchsuggests that a colony of 152,000 African straw-colored fruit bats can distribute more than 300,000 seeds in one night! This could be enough to get thereforestation processstarted across 1,976 acres (or 800 hectares) of land.

Flower and nectar-eaters do their part as well.

蝙蝠arepollinatorsfor upward of 530 types of plants, such as balsa trees, bananas and assorted cactuses. Then we have agave, a key ingredient in tequila. MigratoryLeptonycterisbatseat the nectar from their flowers. In the process, the mammals spread agave pollen around, cross-fertilizing the plants as they go.

Worldwide, roughly1,000 speciesof bats find food and avoid obstacles usingecholocation.

Echolocation is a sound-based navigating strategy. The process starts when an animal releases high-frequency sound waves through the nose or mouth. By carefully listening for an echo, the sender can decipher a lot about its surroundings.

That's how some predatory bats track down moths and mosquitoes in pitch-black darkness.

Unlike insects, a piece of fruit can't fly away. Regardless, Giannini tells us "[all] New World frugivorous bats use echolocation."

"This type is called 'sophisticated laryngeal echolocation' and it is essentially a laryngeal call emitted through the nostrils and modulated using a nose leaf," he adds. (For the record,鼻子的叶子are weird structures found around the nasal openings of many bat species.)

Over in the Old World, most fruit bats don't echolocate — with a few interesting exceptions.

"Among the Pteropodidae, there are bats in the genusRousettusthat echolocate by clicking their tongues," McGuire explains. "This mode of echolocation has often been considered primitive, but studies have shown that their tongue click echolocation is quite sophisticated."

To aid in their quest for vegetarian goodies, many fruit bats — in both the Old World and the New — have evolved a keensense of smell. Flying foxes possessgreat eyesightas well.

这么多的old myththat bats are blind.