Category: Mammals
The Brazilian, or South American, tapir is one of five species in the tapir family. They are large mammals– adults can weigh between 330 and 710 pounds. They prefer to live near water, and are found in the Amazon Rainforest and Amazon Basin, east of the Andes. They are an herbivore that feeds on leaves, buds, shoots, small branches, fruit, grasses, and aquatic plants.
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
