While People Think Of The Birds And The Bees Pollinating The Flowers And The Trees, There Are Also Hundreds

while people think of the birds and the bees pollinating the flowers and the trees, there are also hundreds of species of nectar feeding bats which pollinate thousands of species of plants. known as chiropterophilous plants, many grow flowers that open at night so that the bats, attracted to the sugary nectar, get a dusting of pollen that is carried along with them to the next flower.

these plants and nectivorous bats have shaped each other through coevolution, with the flowers, usually white in colour and pungent in scent so as to be conspicuous at night, often taking a vase like shape to accommodate the face of the bat. the bats, for their part, have particularly good eyesight and a fine sense of smell, but their sonar is often reduced.

chiropterophilous plants even manufacture substances that are useless to themselves but helpful to the bat; because bats often eat the pollen in addition to the nectar, the pollen of these plants contain an amino acid, proline, which is needed to build strong wing and tail membranes.

also worth noting: compared to say birds and bees, bats have heavy wings for their body size. consider that bats beat their wings up to 17 times per second while the bumblebee can approach 200 wing beats per second. and while those comparatively cumbersome bat wings seem like a detriment to maneuverability, new research shows this extra wing mass makes possible their ability to land upside down, like when roosting. (videography)

More Posts from Llamaslikesciencetoo and Others

llamaslikesciencetoo

9 years ago

The Naturalists’ Miscellany : Or Coloured Figures Of Natural Objects; Drawn And Described Immediately

The naturalists’ miscellany : or Coloured figures of natural objects; drawn and described immediately from nature.

By Shaw, George, 1751-1813

Nodder, Elizabeth

Nodder, Frederick Polydore,

Publication info London :Printed for Nodder & co,1789.

Contributing Library: Museum Victoria

BioDiv Library

304 notes View Post

llamaslikesciencetoo

9 years ago

The human brain in comparison with those of other animals. The diverse yet unified pattern of nature never fails to amaze me.

10K notes View Post

llamaslikesciencetoo

8 years ago

Customer: So seeing a whale is guaranteed, right?

Me: Well, it is the open ocean and they are wild animals so we cannot control when and where they are-

Customer: Yeah, but I’m paying to see a whale. How long until we see one?

Me:

152 notes View Post

llamaslikesciencetoo

9 years ago

A Dream Come True: ORCAS IN THEIR NATURAL HABITAT!

a dream come true: ORCAS IN THEIR NATURAL HABITAT!

they examined our cruise vessel inquisitively and played in our stern wave <3 to watch these gentle giants from up close was such a beautiful once in a lifetime experience! they stayed quite a while so i could enjoy the moment and still take some neat pics. thank you for this special day, guys! stay safe.

1K notes View Post

llamaslikesciencetoo

9 years ago

The name “hippopotamus” comes from a Greek word meaning “water horse” or “river horse.” But hippos are not related to horses at all—in fact, their closest living relatives may be pigs or whales and dolphins! (photo: Peter Csanadi)

544 notes View Post

llamaslikesciencetoo

9 years ago

The Ocean Turnover

These are brachiopods, a type of filter-feeding organism that first evolved in the Cambrian era oceans. Although they look a lot like modern-day bivalves (clams), they are a very different organism, found in a totally different phylum. They can readily be distinguished by their shell shapes; brachiopods have sort of a “kink” in their shells whereas bivalves have more rounded shapes. Clams are molluscs, while brachiopods come from the phylum brachiopoda. These two types of filter-feeding organisms have an interesting interplay in the geologic record; if you pick up a limestone from the Paleozoic it is likely to be dominated by brachiopods, while Mesozoic and Cenozoic bivalve shells dominate limestones.

Keep reading

68 notes View Post

llamaslikesciencetoo

9 years ago

Scanning electron micrograph of a male and female flatworm. The smaller female can be seen emerging from the male’s gynecophoral canal. For their entire adult lives, females live inside the male. The gynecophoral canal can transfer nutrients and hormones between the male and female. Isn’t nature amazingly weird?

457 notes View Post

llamaslikesciencetoo

9 years ago