Category: Mammals
These charismatic giants are the largest living terrestrial animals, with an average height between 9.2 and 10.8 feet at the shoulders. They are immediately distinguishable from their Asian relatives by their large ears used for radiating excess heat. Individuals in the wild can survive to be around 70 years old, or until the last of their sets of molars has been worn down and they are unable to feed correctly. They typically eat around 500 pounds of plant matter a day and, because they wander so far and wide, are important for dispersing seeds via their excrement.
Bats: The Only True-Flying Mammal
Bats, the only mammal capable of true flight, are not blind - their eyes are just fine, thank you very much. But instead of eyes, most bats rely on an incredibly fine-tuned sense of hearing when they fly and hunt. Using a technique called echolocation, they emit high-pitched calls (usually above the range of human hearing), using the echos that are reflected back to them as a means of navigation and locating objects. The ears, auditory cortex, and (in a few cases) even noses of some bats are extraordinarily specialized for echolocation; there are even bats that have adapted the frequency of their calls to frequencies above or below what their favorite prey can hear!
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Discover Animals is a web-based educational resource offered by the NAIA
