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Bats: A family portrait affVideo("the bats cave", "12grotteCs.mov", "", "1.79 Mo", "320", "240"); ?> A unique experience! A cave full of more than 400 bats! affPhoto("jamaican fruit-eating bat", "12artibe.jpg", "", "320", "242"); ?> A harem Bats in this species live in harems. A group often includes several females and their offspring with a single male. The oldest and largest males head up the largest harems. affPhoto("Pallas’ long-tongued bat", "12glossophage.jpg", "", "320", "215"); ?> Eating on the wing Just like hummingbirds, Pallas’ long-tongued bats can fly in place while feeding on nectar and pollen. Compared with hummingbirds, which beat their wings about 80 times a second, these bats beat their wings 15 times. affPhoto("Pallas’ long-tongued bats", "12langue.gif", "", "215", "219"); ?> These bats have such long tongues that they can reach bits of pollen clinging to their necks. They lap at flower nectar with their tongues about 12 times a second. affPhoto("Seba’s short-tailed bat", "12fer-de-lance.jpg", "", "320", "226"); ?> Nose leaf Like the other two species of tropical bats at the Biodôme, Seba’s short-tailed bats have nose leaves. They use these flaps to direct the sounds emitted by their noses to help them navigate (echolocation). affPhoto("hands around the mouth", "12porte-voix.gif", "", "224", "226"); ?> We do something similar when we cup our hands around our mouths to amplify our voices so that others can hear us. Bats that don’t have nose leaves use their mouths and not their nostrils for echolocation.
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