LIFE PROCESSES BAT KINGDOM Animalia PHYLUM Chordata CLASS

LIFE PROCESSES - BAT KINGDOM: Animalia PHYLUM: Chordata CLASS: Mammalia

Bat

Movement � Flight �Only mammal that can achieve sustained flight �Wings – webbed forelimbs; membrane is VERY elastic �Digits – 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