Re: Belzenlok
Posted: Mon Oct 20, 2025 5:43 am
https://www.unmc.edu/healthsecurity/tra ... from-them/
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Bats naturally limit inflammation, which occurs from stress or signs of danger. That includes DNA damage caused by the demands of flight or a viral infection, according to research Dr. Wang and his colleagues conducted. Humans become ill when their inflammatory responses kick into overdrive to fight off a virus, but bat immune systems have a more measured response, tolerating the invader.
“We humans really evolved with our intelligence, with our brain development,” he said. “But in terms of the immune system, I want to be a bat.” He’s now expanding his bat research to metabolic disease and other aspects of the bat’s physiology.
Bats’ immune systems and response to inflammation also could help them fight off aging, said Emma Teeling, a zoologist at University College Dublin who has spent the past decade studying how long-lived wild bats age. “We found as they age, they increase their ability to repair their DNA,” said Dr. Teeling, who is also a founding adviser of Paratus.
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Added in 10 minutes 21 seconds:
https://bcbats.ca/bat-basics/
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Bats eat huge amounts of flying insects, sometimes more than their own weight in insects per night. That’s like a 150 lb person eating 600 “quarter-pounder” burgers in one day! Many of the insects that bats eat are likely to be mosquitoes.
Different groups of bats eat different things. There are groups of bats that eat fruit, nectar, insects, mammals, fish, or blood. Only three species of bats in the world eat blood and these are the vampire bats of Central and South America. All bats in Canada eat nothing but insects (and other arthropods) and in most cases, only flying insects.
The saliva of vampire bats contains an anti-coagulant that allows the blood to keep flowing after a bite so that the bat can lap up the blood. This chemical is being used as a treatment for strokes because it can help dissolve blood clots in the brain. There is a drug developed called “draculin”.
Bats are not blind. They have eyes and can see, likely better than we can under dimly lit conditions. Some bats (flying foxes found in the old world) navigate using vision alone and appear to be able to see even better than owls!
Bats in Canada navigate and find prey mostly using echolocation. Bats emit regular calls (at the intensity of screams) and then listen to the echo of their voice. By the sound and timing of the echo, they can determine the range, the size and type of objects in front of them, if they are flying, and how fast they are moving. It is such an amazing system that the US Navy studies bats to improve human-developed sonar systems.
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Bats naturally limit inflammation, which occurs from stress or signs of danger. That includes DNA damage caused by the demands of flight or a viral infection, according to research Dr. Wang and his colleagues conducted. Humans become ill when their inflammatory responses kick into overdrive to fight off a virus, but bat immune systems have a more measured response, tolerating the invader.
“We humans really evolved with our intelligence, with our brain development,” he said. “But in terms of the immune system, I want to be a bat.” He’s now expanding his bat research to metabolic disease and other aspects of the bat’s physiology.
Bats’ immune systems and response to inflammation also could help them fight off aging, said Emma Teeling, a zoologist at University College Dublin who has spent the past decade studying how long-lived wild bats age. “We found as they age, they increase their ability to repair their DNA,” said Dr. Teeling, who is also a founding adviser of Paratus.
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Added in 10 minutes 21 seconds:
https://bcbats.ca/bat-basics/
"
Bats eat huge amounts of flying insects, sometimes more than their own weight in insects per night. That’s like a 150 lb person eating 600 “quarter-pounder” burgers in one day! Many of the insects that bats eat are likely to be mosquitoes.
Different groups of bats eat different things. There are groups of bats that eat fruit, nectar, insects, mammals, fish, or blood. Only three species of bats in the world eat blood and these are the vampire bats of Central and South America. All bats in Canada eat nothing but insects (and other arthropods) and in most cases, only flying insects.
The saliva of vampire bats contains an anti-coagulant that allows the blood to keep flowing after a bite so that the bat can lap up the blood. This chemical is being used as a treatment for strokes because it can help dissolve blood clots in the brain. There is a drug developed called “draculin”.
Bats are not blind. They have eyes and can see, likely better than we can under dimly lit conditions. Some bats (flying foxes found in the old world) navigate using vision alone and appear to be able to see even better than owls!
Bats in Canada navigate and find prey mostly using echolocation. Bats emit regular calls (at the intensity of screams) and then listen to the echo of their voice. By the sound and timing of the echo, they can determine the range, the size and type of objects in front of them, if they are flying, and how fast they are moving. It is such an amazing system that the US Navy studies bats to improve human-developed sonar systems.
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