Are bats really blind?

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asked Oct 25, 2022 in Other- Pets by KingVegeta (740 points)
Are bats really blind?

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answered Oct 26, 2022 by cabbagehead (21,010 points)
Bats are not really blind and can see although bats have small eyes and sensitive vision which helps them see better in the dark although they do have trouble seeing good in the daylight.

Bats can hang upside down without blood going to their head because they have a special circulatory system with valves that prevent the blood from going to their heads.

A bats circulatory system is specially adapted by having special valves which prevent the blood from rushing to their heads.

The circulatory system carries the blood throughout the bat's body via blood vessels.

Bats sleep hanging upside down because they are mammals and can't take off into the air like birds can (at least not without difficulty).

Also bats can and do also die hanging upside down as well.

Bats can hurt you when they feel the need to.

However in reality bats are friendly creatures and gentle creatures unless provoked.

Although bats can seem scary bats are really pretty friendly towards humans and they will only be aggressive when they need to be.

Bats are only aggressive when they're frightened or provoked.

While you should always treat any bat you come into contact with as a wild animal, they are gentle.

Bats are in fact really more afraid of humans than most people think.

In reality bats are harmless creatures and have an undeserved bad reputation when the truth is that they have much more to fear from humans than the other way around.

Bats die from starvation, old age, being attacked, or from lethal fungus.

Bats have only one life and some bats live from 20 to 40 years of age.

Several ecological and physiological features, such as reduction in mortality risks, delayed sexual maturation and hibernation, have been linked to bats' long lifespan.

When bats leave the caves too soon, they can die from exposure or starvation.

This is how millions of little bats are dying from a lethal fungus.

Theories abound on why some bats survive: They might avoid caves, spending the winter in trees, where the white-nose threat is lower because of less-cramped quarters.

When bats mate the bats mate during the night with the male bats awakening the female bats by biting her on the neck and then initiating copulation.

And if the copulation occurs during the day, the male will initiate sex by rubbing its head against the female.

Most bats inhabiting the United States typically mate in the fall or winter before going into hibernation.

The female then stores sperm until she ovulates.

Since bats are mammals, they do not lay eggs, but give birth to young.

Young bats are known as pups, and usually only one is born per litter.

Bats hang from the ceiling and hang upside down because it gives the bat the best and ideal position to takeoff.

By the bats hanging upside down in a high location, the bats are all set to launch if they need to escape the roost.

Hanging upside down is also a great way for the bats to hide from danger.

During the hours when most predators are active (particularly birds of prey), bats congregate where few animals would think to look and most can't reach.

If you see a bat during the day it is likely unhealthy or could have rabies so never try to touch the bat but you can try contacting a wildlife rescue company or a game warden about it who can usually help relocate the bat.

Bats are nocturnal, and typically do not fly during daylight hours if they are healthy.

If the weather is not too cold (i.e., torpor-inducing), the bat will likely go out to forage after dusk before returning to its temporary roost spot at dawn the next day.

Some types of bats like the vampire bats do like to drink blood.

During the darkest part of the night, common vampire bats emerge to hunt.

Sleeping cattle and horses are their usual victims, but they have been known to feed on people as well.

The bats drink their victim's blood for about 30 minutes.

Some bats do eat upside down and some bats fly off and eat their insects and food in the upright position.

The bats that do eat upside down hang upside down by one foot and use the other foot to hold the food.

Some types of bats are carnivores and do eat chickens and other meats.

But most bats are not carnivores and will eat only insects.

Bats don't typically eat anything else other than insects.

Bats eat insects that fly around at night.

Bats are actually the most significant predators of night-flying insects.

There are at least 40 different kinds of bats in the U.S. that eat nothing but insects.

A single little brown bat, which has a body no bigger than an adult human's thumb, can eat 4 to 8 grams (the weight of about a grape or two) of insects each night.

Bat poop is black in color.

The bat poop droppings are typically black in color, and when they are found separately they are long thin pellets, but it is the reality that they collect in piles that actually assists bat feces to stick out.

Bat poop or bat droppings are toxic to humans and you should never touch the bat poop or bat droppings without gloves.

Always use gloves and a shovel or scoop to clean up any bat droppings.

Bat poop or bat droppings do not need to come into contact with soil to be a source of the disease.

Bird or bat roosts can harbor parasites that may invade buildings.

Although these parasites can bite and irritate, they are unlikely to transmit diseases to humans.

Bats do urinate and poop while flying.

Bats poop through their anus and urinate through their vagina or penis.

Male bats have a spiked penis and female bats have a vagina in which they pee out of.

Bats do not poop from their mouths.

Bats do have an anus and they poop out of their anus and not their mouths.

Bats do not poop and pee while hanging upside down.

The bats actually do need to be right-side-up in order to poop and pee.

Bats usually poop and pee when flying.

If they are hanging by a tree limb, they pull themselves upright to poop, then go right back to hanging upside down again.

Bats do give birth to the baby bats while they are upside down.

When the baby bats, called pups, are born the baby bats come into the world with their mothers ready to take care of them.

Hanging from her perch the bat moms give birth upside down!

There for her baby right away the mother bats act fast, catching the blind baby in her wings.

The way bats sleep at night is they find a place where they can hang upside down and they sleep hanging upside down.

Bats sleep hanging upside down because they are mammals and can't take off into the air like birds can (at least not without difficulty).

But, if they're hanging, all they do is let go.

The reason bats sleep in the daytime is because they are nocturnal and forage for food during the nighttime.

During the daytime bats sleep and during the night bats fly and forage for their food (bugs) at night.

This means that the bats need safe places to sleep during the day.

The bats also use echolocation to locate food and avoid obstacles.

Bats do not lay eggs because bats are mammals and give birth to baby bats in the form of pups.

Since the bat is a mammal the bats give birth to their pups and nurse them with milk from their bodies.

Bats are considered one of the slowest reproducing animals in the world and female bats often only produce one offspring per year.

Bats do sleep in different places.

Some bats actually will share a sleeping location, or roost, with thousands or even millions of other bats.

Bats do sleep and they sleep in the day.

In the day bats will sleep in trees, rock crevices, caves, and buildings.

Bats are nocturnal (active at night), leaving daytime roosts at dusk.

Upon leaving their roost, bats fly to a stream, pond, or lake where they dip their lower jaw into the water while still in flight and take a drink.

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