CHAPTER IINTRODUCTION

A Background

Bats are flying mammals in the order Chiroptera (pronounced /kaɪˈrɒptərə/). The

forelimbs of bats are webbed and developed as wings, making them the only mammals

naturally capable of true and sustained flight. By contrast, other mammals said to fly, such as

flying squirrels, gliding possums and colugos, glide rather than fly, and only for short

distances. Bats do not flap their entire forelimbs, as birds do, but instead flap their spread out

digits,[2] which are very long and covered with a thin membrane or patagium. Chiroptera

comes from two Greek words, cheir (χείρ) "hand" and pteron (πτερόν) "wing."

There are about 1,100 bat species worldwide, which represent about twenty percent

of all classified mammal species.[3] About seventy percent of bats are insectivores. Most of

the rest are frugivores, or fruit eaters. A few species feed from animals other than insects.

Bats are present throughout most of the world and perform vital ecological roles such as

pollinating flowers and dispersing fruit seeds. Many tropical plants depend entirely on bats

for the distribution of their seeds. Bats range in size from Kitti's Hog-nosed Bat measuring

29–33 mm (1.14–1.30 in) in length and 2 g (0.07 oz) in mass,[4] to the Giant Golden-crowned

Flying-fox, which has a wing span of 1.5 m (4 ft 11 in) and weighs approximately 1.2 kg.

There are few fossilized remains of bats, as they are terrestrial and light-boned. An

Eocene bat, Onychonycteris finneyi, was found in the fifty-two-million-year-old Green River

Formation in South Dakota, United States, in 2004 and was added as a new genus and placed

in a new family when published in Nature in 2008.[5] It had characteristics indicating that it

could fly, yet the well-preserved skeleton showed that the cochlea of the inner ear lacked

development needed to support the greater hearing abilities of modern bats. This provided

evidence that flight in bats developed well before echolocation. The team that found the

remains of this species, named Onychonycteris finneyi, recognized that it lacked ear and

throat features present not only in echolocating bats today, but also in other known

prehistoric species.

Fossil remains of another Eocene bat, Icaronycteris, were found in 1960. The

appearance and flight movement of bats 52.5 million years ago were different from those of

bats today. Onychonycteris had claws on all five of its fingers, whereas modern bats have at

most two claws appearing on two digits of each hand. It also had longer hind legs and shorter

forearms, similar to climbing mammals that hang under branches such as sloths and gibbons.

This palm-sized bat had broad, short wings suggesting that it could not fly as fast or as far as

later bat species. Instead of flapping its wings continuously while flying, Onychonycteris

likely alternated between flaps and glides while in the air. Such physical characteristics

suggest that this bat did not fly as much as modern bats do, rather flying from tree to tree and

spending most of its waking day climbing or hanging on the branches of trees.

B. Purpose

The purpose of this obsevation are to know the reproduction, social, feeding,

defecation behaviour of bat.

C. Benefit

The benefit of this observation are we can know the reproduction, social, feeding,

defecation behaviour of bat with in the field. And we can more understand because do direct

observation.

CHAPTER IIOBSERVATION RESULT

A. Time and Place

Day / Date : Sunday / April, 2010

Time : At. 08.00 untill 11.00 am.

Place : Tammaesa’ village, Simbang, Maros.

B. Tool and Material

1. Tools :

a. Camera

b. Book

c. Pen

2. Materials

a. Bat (Chiroptera)

C. Work Procedure

In this observation we ere observate in the Simbang village, Maros. We observate

about feeding, social, reproduction, defecation and resting behaviour of bat. For the first we

observate and take the picture and then write the observation result.

D. Observation Result

Classificassion of Bat (Chiroptera):

Kingdom : Animalia

Phylum : Chordata

Class : Mammalia

Infraclass : Eutheria

Superorder : Laurasiatheria

Order : Chiroptera

(Blumenbach, 1779)

a. Reproduction

In the observation we can found result of reproduction behaviour of bat. For the first

male bat and female bat are mating and then make sound very noise. After that the male bat

sweeping the tool sex of female bat.

According to literature, most bats have a breeding season, which is in the spring for

species living in a temperate climate. Bats may have one to three litters in a season,

depending on the species and on environmental

conditions such as the availability of food and roost

sites. Females generally have one offspring at a

time, this is maybe a result of the mother's need to fly

to feed while pregnant. Female bats nurse their

youngster until it has grown nearly to adult size,

this is because a young bat cannot forage on its

own until its wings are fully developed. Female bats use a variety of strategies to control the

timing of pregnancy and the birth of young, to make delivery coincide with maximum food

ability and other ecological factors. Females of some species have delayed fertilization, in

which sperm are stored in the reproductive tract for several months after mating. In many

such cases, mating occurs in the fall, and fertilization does not occur until the following

spring. Other species exhibit delayed implantation, in which the egg is fertilized after mating,

but remains free in the reproductive tract until external conditions become favorable for

giving birth and caring for the offspring. In yet another strategy, fertilization and implantation

both occur but development of the fetus is delayed until favorable conditions prevail. All of

these adaptations result in the pup being born during a time of high local production of fruit

or insects. At birth wings are too small to be used for flight. Young microbats become

independent at the age of 6 to 8 weeks, megabats do not until they are four months old. A

single bat can live over 20 years, but the bat population growth is limited by the slow birth

rate.

b. Feeding

The majority of food consumed by bats includes: Insects, ffruits and flower nectar,

vvertebrates. But in our observation we are not looking the feeding behaviour because we

observate in day.

According to literature, the majority of food consumed by bats includes insects,

fruits and flower nectar, vertebrates and blood.[30] Almost three-fourths of the world’s bats are

insect eaters. Each of these bats is able to consume one

third of its body weight in insects each night, and several

hundred insects in a few hours. This means that a group of one

thousand bats could eat four tons of insects each year. If bats

were to become extinct, the insect population would reach an

alarmingly high number. The types of insects consumed by bats can be divided into two

categories: aerial insects, and ground-dwelling insects. There comes a time in the year that

some bats will not eat to supply themselves with food for the night, but for the coming

months. These bats are beginning to hibernate. To do this, the bat will eat as much food as its

body can contain, being as fat as possible. The bat’s body then takes from the supply of fat

for energy, but very slowly, because all body activities have slowed down. This supply of fat

will last until the spring season arrives.[29]

c. Defecation

Observation result we can see bats are doing defecation when they flying.

d. Social behaviour

In observation result, we can see the social behaviour. In the field we found two

kinds of bat colors. They are brown and black. Sometimes they are they are finghting and

make noice.

According to literature, the social

structure of bats varies, with some bats

leading a solitary life and others living in

caves colonized by more than a million

bats[45]. The fission-fusion social structure is

seen among several species of bats. The

term "fusion" refers to a large numbers of

bats that congregate together in one roosting area and "fission" refers to breaking up and the

mixing of subgroups, where individual bats switching roosts with others and often ending up

in different trees and with different roostmates. Studies also show that bats make all kinds of

sounds to communicate with others. Scientists in the field have listened to bats and have been

able to identify some sounds with some behaviour bats will make after the sounds are made.

70% of bat species are insectivorous, locating their prey by means of echolocation. Of the

remainder, most feed on fruits. Only three species sustain themselves with blood. Some

species even prey on vertebrates: these are the leaf-nosed bats (Phyllostomidae) of Central

America and South America, and the two bulldog bat (Noctilionidae) species, which feed on

fish. At least two species of bat are known to feed on bats: the Spectral Bat, also known as

the American False Vampire bat, and the Ghost Bat of Australia. One species, the Greater

Noctule bat, catches and eats small birds in the air.

e. Resting behaviour

Observation result of resting behaviour, the bats take rest in the day with hanging its

body and covered its body with its feature. Sometimes they make its feature is move.

According to literature, when they taking a rest

they always go along together, but there is an exception.

The social structure of bats varies, with some bats leading a

solitary life and others living in caves colonized by more

than a million bats. The fission-fusion social structure is

seen among several species of bats. The term "fusion" refers

to a large numbers of bats that congregate together in one

roosting area and "fission" refers to breaking up and the mixing of subgroups, where

individual bats switching roosts with others and often ending up in different trees and with

different roost mates.

CHAPTER IIIDISCUSSION AND CONCLUSSION

A. Discussion

In this observation we observate feeding, social, defecation, resting and reproduction

of bat behaviour. In this observation we dont found the maximal result, because we observate

in the day. We cant see the feeding behaviour. But in our report we using some literature to

complete our report.

B. Conclussion

According to obsrevate we can conclude that, Bats are mammals. Sometimes they are

mistakenly called "flying rodents" or "flying rats", and they can also be mistaken for insects

and birds. There are two suborders of bats: Megachiroptera (megabats) and microchiroptera

(microbats/echolocating bats). Megabats eat fruit, nectar or pollen while most microbats eat

insects; others may feed on the blood of animals, small mammals, fish, frogs, fruit, pollen or

nectar. Megabats have a well-developed visual cortex and show good visual acuity, while

microbats rely on echolocation for navigation and finding prey.

The social structure of bats varies, with some bats leading a solitary life and others

living in caves colonized by more than a million bats. The fission-fusion social structure is

seen among several species of bats. The term "fusion" refers to a large numbers of bats that

congregate together in one roosting area and "fission" refers to breaking up and the mixing of

subgroups, where individual bats switching roosts with others and often ending up in

different trees and with different roostmates. When they taking a rest they always go along

together, but there is an exception. The social structure of bats varies, with some bats leading

a solitary life and others living in caves colonized by more than a million bats. bats are doing

defecation when they flying. Most bats have a breeding season, which is in the spring for

species living in a temperate climate. Bats may have one to three litters in a season,

depending on the species and on environmental conditions such as the availability of food

and roost sites. Females generally have one offspring at a time, this is maybe a result of the

mother's need to fly to feed while pregnant. Female bats nurse their youngster until it has

grown nearly to adult size, this is because a young bat cannot forage on its own until its

wings are fully developed.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Anonima. 2010. Bat Conservation Trust. http//crayonpedia.html. Accessed on May 30th 2010.

Anonimb. 2010. Bat Life. Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Accessed on May 30th 2010.

Anonimc. 2010. The Secreet Life of Bats. http//wikipedia.html. Accessed on May 30th 2010.

Tthe secreet life of bats The Secret Life of Bats

 Fathomt he Secret Life of Bats  Fathom

“BEHAVIOUR OF BAT (Chiroptera)”

Created By:

FITRIANTI ARIF

ICP CLASS

071 404 188

BIOLOGY DEPARTMENT

MATHEMATICS AND SCIENCE FACULTY

STATE UNIVERSITY OF MAKASSAR

2009