300 kilometers per hour are soaring the skies with  the three meter wingspan of an albatross but only  

certain types of animals can do it and today we're  going to talk about the only group of mammals that  

can fly bats i know those guys seem to have a bit  of a bad rep these days but you'll soon discover  

just how extraordinary these creatures are and  the important role they play in our everyday lives  

now as a child you were probably introduced to  bats via the infamous vampire bats those little  

bloodsuckers associated with dracula well there  are more than a thousand other species bats make  

up 20 of all mammals and because of that they're  everywhere living on almost every continent and  

they vary greatly in size and appearance take the  flying fox for example this species has a wingspan  

of about a meter and a half while the bump will  be bat as its name suggests has a wingspan of just  

15 centimeters you may be sensing a common theme  here when i'm talking about all of these bats and  

bat species they're wings that's because batwings  are incredible and not just because of the varying  

sizes now the easiest comparison to make is  between bats and birds while some birds are  

great at cruising flight bats have the edge when  it comes to maneuvering and all that comes down  

to how bats wings are built the bone structure of  bat wings is incredibly flexible if you've ever  

watched a bat hunt an insect you can see just how  agile they are almost like an aerial acrobat bats  

have similar bones that we humans have their arms  consist of the same bones and joints as we do an  

upper arm an elbow a lower arm a wrist and digits  that's right they have a hand in their wings with  

fingers that actually support the wing this allows  for incredible precision and maneuverability bats  

have four elongated digits that they can flex and  bend and a thumb that remains separate with a claw  

some use this cloth for climbing or crawling while  others use it to handle food connecting these  

limbs in the digits is a skin membrane called the  potassium that consists of two layers of epidermis  

and dermis that surround blood vessels nerves  and tendons unlike our skin which acts like a  

protective barrier bat skin actually helps them  move now we usually don't associate skin as a  

way of generating movement but this membrane is  key to how bats perfect their maneuvering skills  

in flight while flying seems pretty amazing to us  it's one of the most taxing ways of getting around  

and this is true especially for bats during  flight a bat's heartbeat can surge to over 1  

000 beats per minute and their body temperature  can rise to more than 39 degrees celsius that's  

over 102 degrees fahrenheit for some animals  that might mean certain death but not for bats  

researchers seem to think these stressors  are what built the bats superpower  

their immune system bats are known to host some of  the world's deadliest viruses from rabies to ebola  

to even some coronaviruses possibly even the  virus that causes covet 19. a bat's immune system  

responds differently than ours to these types of  infections preventing the animal from falling sick  

and this research suggested that flight may be the  reason why it's believed that when bats evolved  

to fly their energy metabolism was altered to  adapt to the high energetic demands of flight  

but this high metabolic rate can eventually  damage their dna which can negatively impact  

their health so to prevent this bats have evolved  mechanisms to lessen their immune response  

resulting in bats not being affected by  these diseases the same way we humans are  

this makes them natural disease reservoirs and  because of this they get a bad reputation but  

they're crucial members to our world and those  little creatures need our help more than ever  

environmental threats like deforestation and  wildlife trade are putting bat populations  

under enormous pressure and in turn this puts  us in danger as well we continue to infringe  

on their world by destroying their habitat  which in turn creates more opportunities for  

diseases to jump from one species to another and  like most of our natural world we need bats they  

play important roles in our ecosystems from pest  controllers to pollinators thousands of plants  

rely on bats for pollination or to spread seeds  some of our favorite fruits like mangoes guava  

and even avocados wouldn't be here if it weren't  for them the great part is that you can help and  

the wildlife conservation society has some great  tips it could be as easy as looking at your  

backyard or outside your window and it doesn't  matter if you live in downtown manhattan or san  

francisco or in the woods somewhere you can help  by doing what actually my wife and i have recently  

done which is we've gotten rid of our lawn and  we're replanting pollinators for those who are  

not as fortunate as people like myself just a box  outside your window native plants and starting to  

contribute to bringing back insects in the native  flora and fauna of your area you can do something  

that's very profound thanks for watching seeker's  new series tusk to tales i'm evan anton and i hope  

you enjoyed this video if there's an animal you  want us to cover leave us a comment see you next

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