YouTube: | https://youtube.com/watch?v=ys7xN_qk-_g |
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View count: | 145,616 |
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Comments: | 433 |
Duration: | 07:01 |
Uploaded: | 2024-06-20 |
Last sync: | 2024-09-04 17:00 |
Use code BIZARREBEASTS50 to get 50% OFF your first Factor box plus 20% off your next month at https://bit.ly/4aEsdno!
Welcome back to Bizarre Beasts: Season Zero, where we are remastering episodes of Bizarre Beasts that were originally created for Vlogbrothers. This episode, Hammer-headed Bats! The nocturnal mammal that looks a little strange, but sounds even stranger.
The hammer-headed bat pin was designed by Lukas Phelan.
Get the Season Zero pin set here: https://complexly.store/products/season-zero-pin-set
Subscribe to the pin club here: https://complexly.store/products/bizarre-beasts-pin-subscription
You can cancel any time by emailing hello@dftba.com
Follow us on socials:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/bizarrebeasts
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bizarrebeastsshow/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BizarreBeastsShow/
#BizarreBeasts #bats
-----
Sources:
https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=101784365
https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Hypsignathus_monstrosus/
https://blog.wcs.org/photo/2018/05/15/hammer-headed-bat-congo-africa/
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/hammerhead-bat/
https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Megabat
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/lek
https://www.bats.org.uk/about-bats/what-are-bats/classifying-bats
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960982213012001
https://zslpublications.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jzo.12069
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0241063&fbclid=IwAR17swkF6PT2ZQyxIdcMLbtJVsLIj2TvRtWXsI10bjSUVddqg_mDZBpUeMQ
https://academic.oup.com/beheco/article/26/4/1156/211521?login=false
Audio of the Lek Vocalization: https://youtu.be/Cn7zl2zdLW0
------
Images:
https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/video/vampire-bat-stock-footage/1327135113
https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/video/malayan-flying-fox-eating-fruit-stock-footage/1175886980?adppopup=true
https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/video/flying-fox-eating-fruit-upside-down-stock-footage/1154826963?adppopup=true
https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/video/fruit-bat-or-flying-fox-pteropus-giganteus-tourist-zone-stock-footage/1954361585?adppopup=true
https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/video/pair-of-egyptian-fruit-bats-rousettus-aegyptiacus-stock-footage/635794046?adppopup=true
https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/video/indian-flying-fox-bat-hanging-on-the-roof-pteropus-stock-footage/1137863958
https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/video/following-a-single-flying-fox-flying-beneath-a-blue-sky-stock-footage/1254755067?adppopup=true
https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/video/male-greater-sage-grouse-courtship-display-with-inflated-stock-footage/1218381592?adppopup=true
https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/video/close-up-small-lesser-horseshoe-bat-covered-by-wings-stock-footage/1294776677?adppopup=true
https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/video/malabar-giant-squirrel-sitting-on-branch-eating-a-banana-stock-footage/2029499100?adppopup=true
https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/video/close-up-hole-inside-a-big-natural-cave-with-bats-long-stock-footage/1410106793?adppopup=true
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0223139
https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/video/wide-or-medium-shot-of-two-male-blackbuck-or-antilope-stock-footage/1404647560
https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/video/close-up-of-a-fruit-bat-licking-stock-footage/1808124319?adppopup=true
https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/video/malibu-sea-lion-enjoying-the-sun-stock-footage/1388274274?adppopup=true
https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/video/shoebill-stork-standing-surrounded-by-plants-stock-footage/1067753670?adppopup=true
https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/common-vampire-bat-royalty-free-image/518596994?phrase=big+lipped+bat&adppopup=true
https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/brazilian-bat-the-brazilian-big-eyed-bat-royalty-free-image/1221511037?phrase=big+lipped+bat&adppopup=true
https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/flying-fox-flying-royalty-free-image/1994381930?phrase=megabat&adppopup=true
https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/video/mexican-free-tailed-bats-flying-outside-cave-texas-stock-footage/528533492?adppopup=true
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/346221
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/140714664
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kod6WCzXNl0&ab_channel=DepartmentofConservation
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/143017823
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/26482785
https://youtu.be/Cn7zl2zdLW0?si=Qei0waZhRbkXb-HX
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/35705849
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/5649067
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/9308394
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0223139
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0223139
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/189804521
Welcome back to Bizarre Beasts: Season Zero, where we are remastering episodes of Bizarre Beasts that were originally created for Vlogbrothers. This episode, Hammer-headed Bats! The nocturnal mammal that looks a little strange, but sounds even stranger.
The hammer-headed bat pin was designed by Lukas Phelan.
Get the Season Zero pin set here: https://complexly.store/products/season-zero-pin-set
Subscribe to the pin club here: https://complexly.store/products/bizarre-beasts-pin-subscription
You can cancel any time by emailing hello@dftba.com
Follow us on socials:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/bizarrebeasts
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bizarrebeastsshow/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BizarreBeastsShow/
#BizarreBeasts #bats
-----
Sources:
https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=101784365
https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Hypsignathus_monstrosus/
https://blog.wcs.org/photo/2018/05/15/hammer-headed-bat-congo-africa/
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/hammerhead-bat/
https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Megabat
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/lek
https://www.bats.org.uk/about-bats/what-are-bats/classifying-bats
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960982213012001
https://zslpublications.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jzo.12069
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0241063&fbclid=IwAR17swkF6PT2ZQyxIdcMLbtJVsLIj2TvRtWXsI10bjSUVddqg_mDZBpUeMQ
https://academic.oup.com/beheco/article/26/4/1156/211521?login=false
Audio of the Lek Vocalization: https://youtu.be/Cn7zl2zdLW0
------
Images:
https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/video/vampire-bat-stock-footage/1327135113
https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/video/malayan-flying-fox-eating-fruit-stock-footage/1175886980?adppopup=true
https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/video/flying-fox-eating-fruit-upside-down-stock-footage/1154826963?adppopup=true
https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/video/fruit-bat-or-flying-fox-pteropus-giganteus-tourist-zone-stock-footage/1954361585?adppopup=true
https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/video/pair-of-egyptian-fruit-bats-rousettus-aegyptiacus-stock-footage/635794046?adppopup=true
https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/video/indian-flying-fox-bat-hanging-on-the-roof-pteropus-stock-footage/1137863958
https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/video/following-a-single-flying-fox-flying-beneath-a-blue-sky-stock-footage/1254755067?adppopup=true
https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/video/male-greater-sage-grouse-courtship-display-with-inflated-stock-footage/1218381592?adppopup=true
https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/video/close-up-small-lesser-horseshoe-bat-covered-by-wings-stock-footage/1294776677?adppopup=true
https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/video/malabar-giant-squirrel-sitting-on-branch-eating-a-banana-stock-footage/2029499100?adppopup=true
https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/video/close-up-hole-inside-a-big-natural-cave-with-bats-long-stock-footage/1410106793?adppopup=true
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0223139
https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/video/wide-or-medium-shot-of-two-male-blackbuck-or-antilope-stock-footage/1404647560
https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/video/close-up-of-a-fruit-bat-licking-stock-footage/1808124319?adppopup=true
https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/video/malibu-sea-lion-enjoying-the-sun-stock-footage/1388274274?adppopup=true
https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/video/shoebill-stork-standing-surrounded-by-plants-stock-footage/1067753670?adppopup=true
https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/common-vampire-bat-royalty-free-image/518596994?phrase=big+lipped+bat&adppopup=true
https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/brazilian-bat-the-brazilian-big-eyed-bat-royalty-free-image/1221511037?phrase=big+lipped+bat&adppopup=true
https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/flying-fox-flying-royalty-free-image/1994381930?phrase=megabat&adppopup=true
https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/video/mexican-free-tailed-bats-flying-outside-cave-texas-stock-footage/528533492?adppopup=true
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/346221
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/140714664
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kod6WCzXNl0&ab_channel=DepartmentofConservation
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/143017823
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/26482785
https://youtu.be/Cn7zl2zdLW0?si=Qei0waZhRbkXb-HX
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/35705849
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/5649067
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/9308394
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0223139
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0223139
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/189804521
Thank you to Factor for sponsoring this video.
Head to Factor75.com or click on the link below and use the code BIZARREBEASTS50
to get 50% off your first factor box and 20% off your next month of orders. Good morning, John.
So, let's start with a thing that's pretty good about the world. There is a website called Snopes that got started specifically because the internet is bad at getting its stories straight. Welcome back to Bizarre
Beasts: Season Zero. Hank and I are trading off hosting duties on our year-long journey to remaster the original Bizarre Beasts episodes from vlogbrothers with corrections, updates, and new facts. Hank was about to use the Snopes website to show some artwork of fictional creatures that people had mistaken as real. As much as we would like to show you some of the artwork that was featured in the original Vlogbrothers video, here at Bizarre Beasts Headquarters, we have to operate by slightly different rules.
Due to the way we copyright our videos on this channel, it’s important we get explicit permission from artists to feature their work! While we weren’t able to get permission from those artists, we think you’ll want to stick around. Today’s Season Zero Beast might appear like a work of fiction, but they are very real, and so are the pins! [♪INTRO♪] The more interesting thing is when Snopes has a page for an animal not because someone made it up, but because no one believes it's real.
This is unsurprisingly the case for the shoebill stork and the Malabar giant squirrel, but in my humble opinion, the most bizarre of these Snopes creatures that are actually real is the hammer-headed bat, a mega-bat, and yes, that is the technical term, that isn't just real, it's downright common in West and Central Africa. So I just said that “mega-bat” is the technical term and that’s only kind of correct. Like, traditionally, bats were split into mega-bats and micro-bats.
Mega-bats were the big fruit bats that live in Africa, Oceania, and Eurasia, and micro-bats were the small, echolocating, insect-eating bats. But some micro-bats are bigger than some mega-bats, so the size thing doesn’t shake out perfectly. And some mega-bats also echolocate, though they do it a little differently than micro-bats, so that doesn’t work perfectly as a way to split them up either.
And, recent studies of bat DNA suggest that some micro-bats are more closely related to the mega-bats than they are to the other micro-bats. So when I say “mega-bat” in this video, we're using it in the traditional big-fruit-bat sense. Now, the term is mega-bat, but to be a bat, you can't be that big, because you have to fly and you don't have feathers, and feathers are much better at the flying thing than thin membranes of skin.
And so generally when you see a bat that is very big, it's not as big as it looks. It's usually a strange camera angle. Bats are good at being lightweight, so while they can have wingspans of over a meter, there is no bat on Earth heavier than 3.5lbs.
The hammer-headed bat tops out at around 1lb, which is even big for a mega-bat, most of which are smaller than that, but look, those are all big for bats! So, we couldn’t confirm what Hank just said about the hammer-headed bat’s size relative to all megabats, but we can say that megabats range in weight from 13 grams up to almost 1 kilogram. The most common bat in North America, for example, weighs around a third of an ounce, but none of this is the thing that astounds you about the hammer-headed bat, right, like, the thing that you're looking at is the head.
Like, it's lookin' kinda dumb. Now, this certainly isn't the only weird looking bat. Their faces often look pretty silly, but usually that is for better accuracy of their sonar.
Hammer-headed bats, like other mega-bats, mostly eat fruit, which are notoriously sedentary. They don't have to snag them out of the air like bat-sensing bugs, so mega-bats actually are usually pretty cute. Not so for this boy! This weird face exists as far as we can tell for one reason and one reason only: the lek.
Lekking is a mating behavior where a bunch of males gather in a central location to display out to females, who then pick the male that they are most interested in. That area is called the lek, which yes, in my opinion, would be a very good name for a dating app, thank you for asking. And lekking is kind of unusual.
There are a lot of theories about why it evolved and what benefits it has. It’s a pretty uncommon breeding strategy for mammals in general. There are just over a dozen confirmed species that do it and they’re mostly antelopes and deer, though some seals and sea lions have lek-like mating, too.
And it’s also rare in bats, with just a few species other than the hammer-headed bat that do it. It’s much more common in birds, like our friend the kakapo, and some researchers think that it might have to do with how much females can and do move around the landscape. Species with females that range more widely are more likely to be lek breeders than species that don’t.
So it’s actually a little bit of a mystery why more bats aren’t lek breeders. Hammer-headed bats display not through visual traits, but through noise. That giant rostrum and the fleshy lips and the split nose all help them make a big, kind of awful noise that female hammer-headed bats, which by the way, don't look nearly as weird as the males, apparently find really sexy.
And now, because we can, we're all gonna listen to that noise together. [bat sounds] Oh. Great. As with so many bizarre things in nature, this face that only a nocturnal species could love comes down to sexual selection, and so if I had a chance to re-write that Snopes page, I would add one single sentence.
Yes, they do look terrible, but get this: That weird face only exists so that they can sound terrible, too. If you missed this critter the first time around, our Season Zero pin set is now available! This set includes all 12 of the animals we began this Bizarre Beasts journey with on Vlogbrothers, including the hammer-headed bat!
And this one is very sparkly! To get the Season Zero Pin set, visit bizarrebeastsshow.com! Factor makes meeting your nutrition goals easier than ever by delivering fresh, never frozen,
dietician-approved meals right to your doorstep.
Their team of gourmet chefs create each meal using only ingredients with integrity to help you feel your best all day long. Best of all, Factor meals are ready to eat in as little as two minutes. Plus, Factor now offers loads of snack options like breakfast, smoothies, juices, small bites, and more. to keep you going, no matter what's on the schedule.
Head to Factor75.com or click on the link below and use the code BIZARREBEASTS50 to get 50% off your first Factor box and 20% off your next month of orders. That's code BIZARREBEASTS50 at Factor75.com to get 50% off your first box, plus 20% off your next month of orders. [♪OUTRO♪]
Head to Factor75.com or click on the link below and use the code BIZARREBEASTS50
to get 50% off your first factor box and 20% off your next month of orders. Good morning, John.
So, let's start with a thing that's pretty good about the world. There is a website called Snopes that got started specifically because the internet is bad at getting its stories straight. Welcome back to Bizarre
Beasts: Season Zero. Hank and I are trading off hosting duties on our year-long journey to remaster the original Bizarre Beasts episodes from vlogbrothers with corrections, updates, and new facts. Hank was about to use the Snopes website to show some artwork of fictional creatures that people had mistaken as real. As much as we would like to show you some of the artwork that was featured in the original Vlogbrothers video, here at Bizarre Beasts Headquarters, we have to operate by slightly different rules.
Due to the way we copyright our videos on this channel, it’s important we get explicit permission from artists to feature their work! While we weren’t able to get permission from those artists, we think you’ll want to stick around. Today’s Season Zero Beast might appear like a work of fiction, but they are very real, and so are the pins! [♪INTRO♪] The more interesting thing is when Snopes has a page for an animal not because someone made it up, but because no one believes it's real.
This is unsurprisingly the case for the shoebill stork and the Malabar giant squirrel, but in my humble opinion, the most bizarre of these Snopes creatures that are actually real is the hammer-headed bat, a mega-bat, and yes, that is the technical term, that isn't just real, it's downright common in West and Central Africa. So I just said that “mega-bat” is the technical term and that’s only kind of correct. Like, traditionally, bats were split into mega-bats and micro-bats.
Mega-bats were the big fruit bats that live in Africa, Oceania, and Eurasia, and micro-bats were the small, echolocating, insect-eating bats. But some micro-bats are bigger than some mega-bats, so the size thing doesn’t shake out perfectly. And some mega-bats also echolocate, though they do it a little differently than micro-bats, so that doesn’t work perfectly as a way to split them up either.
And, recent studies of bat DNA suggest that some micro-bats are more closely related to the mega-bats than they are to the other micro-bats. So when I say “mega-bat” in this video, we're using it in the traditional big-fruit-bat sense. Now, the term is mega-bat, but to be a bat, you can't be that big, because you have to fly and you don't have feathers, and feathers are much better at the flying thing than thin membranes of skin.
And so generally when you see a bat that is very big, it's not as big as it looks. It's usually a strange camera angle. Bats are good at being lightweight, so while they can have wingspans of over a meter, there is no bat on Earth heavier than 3.5lbs.
The hammer-headed bat tops out at around 1lb, which is even big for a mega-bat, most of which are smaller than that, but look, those are all big for bats! So, we couldn’t confirm what Hank just said about the hammer-headed bat’s size relative to all megabats, but we can say that megabats range in weight from 13 grams up to almost 1 kilogram. The most common bat in North America, for example, weighs around a third of an ounce, but none of this is the thing that astounds you about the hammer-headed bat, right, like, the thing that you're looking at is the head.
Like, it's lookin' kinda dumb. Now, this certainly isn't the only weird looking bat. Their faces often look pretty silly, but usually that is for better accuracy of their sonar.
Hammer-headed bats, like other mega-bats, mostly eat fruit, which are notoriously sedentary. They don't have to snag them out of the air like bat-sensing bugs, so mega-bats actually are usually pretty cute. Not so for this boy! This weird face exists as far as we can tell for one reason and one reason only: the lek.
Lekking is a mating behavior where a bunch of males gather in a central location to display out to females, who then pick the male that they are most interested in. That area is called the lek, which yes, in my opinion, would be a very good name for a dating app, thank you for asking. And lekking is kind of unusual.
There are a lot of theories about why it evolved and what benefits it has. It’s a pretty uncommon breeding strategy for mammals in general. There are just over a dozen confirmed species that do it and they’re mostly antelopes and deer, though some seals and sea lions have lek-like mating, too.
And it’s also rare in bats, with just a few species other than the hammer-headed bat that do it. It’s much more common in birds, like our friend the kakapo, and some researchers think that it might have to do with how much females can and do move around the landscape. Species with females that range more widely are more likely to be lek breeders than species that don’t.
So it’s actually a little bit of a mystery why more bats aren’t lek breeders. Hammer-headed bats display not through visual traits, but through noise. That giant rostrum and the fleshy lips and the split nose all help them make a big, kind of awful noise that female hammer-headed bats, which by the way, don't look nearly as weird as the males, apparently find really sexy.
And now, because we can, we're all gonna listen to that noise together. [bat sounds] Oh. Great. As with so many bizarre things in nature, this face that only a nocturnal species could love comes down to sexual selection, and so if I had a chance to re-write that Snopes page, I would add one single sentence.
Yes, they do look terrible, but get this: That weird face only exists so that they can sound terrible, too. If you missed this critter the first time around, our Season Zero pin set is now available! This set includes all 12 of the animals we began this Bizarre Beasts journey with on Vlogbrothers, including the hammer-headed bat!
And this one is very sparkly! To get the Season Zero Pin set, visit bizarrebeastsshow.com! Factor makes meeting your nutrition goals easier than ever by delivering fresh, never frozen,
dietician-approved meals right to your doorstep.
Their team of gourmet chefs create each meal using only ingredients with integrity to help you feel your best all day long. Best of all, Factor meals are ready to eat in as little as two minutes. Plus, Factor now offers loads of snack options like breakfast, smoothies, juices, small bites, and more. to keep you going, no matter what's on the schedule.
Head to Factor75.com or click on the link below and use the code BIZARREBEASTS50 to get 50% off your first Factor box and 20% off your next month of orders. That's code BIZARREBEASTS50 at Factor75.com to get 50% off your first box, plus 20% off your next month of orders. [♪OUTRO♪]