Early Evolution of Bats

[@melvinshine9841]

It's always been funny to me that pterosaurs and bats not only converged on having a similar wing structure, but also in just showing up in the fossil record fully flight capable. We lucked out with avian dinosaurs in that we have a pretty good idea of how the transition from the ground to the air happened.

[@troutinspace5427]

And even with Pterosaurs we have more modern finds like the lagerpetids that give us at least a solid idea for what the Pterosaur ancestor look liked with bats they literally spawn into the fossil record almost fully bat looking

[@melvinshine9841]

@troutinspace5427 And both probably made their respective transitions from the ground to the skies *really* fast, geologically speaking. We just don't know what those transitions actually looked like.

[@josephclark5979]

We don’t have transitional forms for flying insects, either! Birds are an extraordinary outlier. They’re also odd in that they’re the only flying vertebrates to have secondarily flightless representatives. While there are no known bats or pterosaurs which lost the ability to fly, many bird lineages have independently reverted to flightlessness (Gargantuavis, hesperornithes, rattites, penguins, some New Zealand parrots, phorusrachids, mihirungs, Pinguinus, and others).

[@troutinspace5427]

@@melvinshine9841 my best guess is because birds had more competition for the flying vertebrate role with pterosaurs that we see such a clear fossil transition. Pterosaurs had no vertebrate competitors when they evolved and bats probably took advantage of much lower bird diversity at the start of the Cenozoic. It’s also worth noting well we have the evolution of flight in birds the origins and diversity of a lot of modern bird groups is still quite obscure. We know the 3 modern bird clades (paleognathes, galloansara, and neorniths) must of existed in the Cretaceous but only have one confirmed fossil of them from then so like bats and pterosaurs modern birds must have diversified extremely fast following the KTP extinction

[@Irobert1115HD]

actually we have something like a proto pterosaur. its name is sharovipteryx. tldr: its suspected that the ancestors of pterosaurs looked similar to it and then moved the wing membrane forward.

[@laurachapple6795]

Bats are very cute and those Honduran White Bats huddled in their little leaf tents are particularly cute AF.

[@MichaelRafferty-xb7iy]

Caveman Thug: Ugh ugh uuah? (What are you?) Caveman Batman: Ugh orrrrg ugh! (I'm Onychonycterisman!)

[@mil_enrama]

i live in central texas and we love our bats here, they are a source of great pride. perhaps we love them so because they eat our mosquitos. thank you for shedding light on their obscure history

[@thedarkmasterthedarkmaster]

It's interesting that of all the lineages that evolved powered flight only the birds have a decent fossil record in terms of their origins wonder why that is

[@kaylievinchenstein9987]

To be fair we had trouble finding early bird fossils and still do. A good amount of early bird evolution wouldn't be known without the delicate Chinese fossils and the conditions that lead to them. We may one day find formations corresponding to bats and pterosaurs early species, but it also comes down to luck.

[@substantialcarp]

I would argue bats are scientifically adorable due to their morphology, and the fact people find them scary or creepy is just cultural. Of course the cultural negative connotations arise from things like disease avoidance, but it feels a bit disproportionate to me. They have big eyes. They're furry/fluffy. They have expressive faces. They're not large, scary carnivores (not that that alone stops us finding animals cute!). They've also got faces and muzzles similar-ish to some canids, which we mostly all love and find cute.

[@kaylievinchenstein9987]

@@substantialcarp I think you responded to the wrong reply?

[@pearcat08]

I think the need for flying animals to have such lightweight bodies leads to them having thin, fragile bones which are much more likely to be destroyed before they can be preserved as fossils. At the same time, the structures that would indicate the early steps toward flight, such as skin flaps, aren't likely to preserve at all so the fossils of earlier ancestors of the flying animals would just look like regular ground dwellers. Feathers, however, preserve much better than skin so it is easier to see the beginnings of their adaptation for flying and therefore trace the evolution of flight in those lineages. As another reply pointed out, some of it is just luck too; the specific conditions that lead fo some of the earliest fossils in the development of bird flight are quite rare. Perhaps eventually we will find similarly well preserved fossils of earlier bats and pterosaurs.

[@vikingskuld]

​@@pearcat08sorry but I can see a few flaws in your ideology here. 1. Soft tissue from dinosaur fossils as well as others gives your skin idea I bit of a road bump. We have found skin impressions from flying reptiles. Also there are problems with the wing development and bones to support it. Those bat wings are highly unique with the nerves and muscles having fully developed for flight. Evolution itself has many glaring problems that are not seriously being addressed. Where are the earlier bat fossils? With the literally millions of fossils found yet no early primitive bat's or echo location. Just one problem after another

[@erichtomanek4739]

What a stir will be caused, when a fossil "bat" is found, that shows the intermediate stage of flight! To link this video to the next video, I like to specevo on a group of flying Monotremes, the "Aerotremes", who initially evolved in Antarctica and spread to Australia. A group of dozens of species that is alive and well to this day. Thanks for a informative and entertaining video.

[@balenfalotico2283]

Hey!! He brought back the intro!!

[@RedexTwo]

I love bats! I wish we knew more about their evolution :(

[@gewitterhund3164]

No bats: no tequila. If more people knew that, more people would like them. (Maybe no bats: no bananas too)

[@Stothehighest]

Yay! The music is back! Its Dr. Polaris time!

[@bearblossom64]

Great stuff. Bats are very cute 🦇 can you do an episode on anteaters?

[@j.alanbaker5550]

Great job Doc! Very psyched for monotreme video 🙏

[@MastodonMann]

The Midnight Sun bumper is back :D

[@magnolia1253]

I also find most bats adorable.

[@amandastakeonit7402]

I think most bats are adorable! 🦇The only thing spooky about them is the risk of rabies. Well vampire bats are quite bratty bats!

[@WaterShowsProd]

I love bats. I often stop at night and watch them flying about. Now I live in the tropics and see fruit bats quite often, including some quite large ones which are simply majestic. And cute, of course.

[@docu-menter2702]

Bats are always an enigma to me. For once, we encountered a flying animal that did not developed a beak. I always thought that beak are necessary for flying animals, like what we see on Pterosaurs and Birds. But bats proven that it's not always the case.

[@b.a.erlebacher1139]

There was a group of animals closely related to birds that closely resembled birds but had teeth. There were a lot of species, but none survived the KP boundary. It's not clear why, although some ideas have been proposed. Considering that very few birds survived, these toothed birds may just not have had much luck as birds with beaks.

[@gtc239]

Well mammals are just simply incapable of forming beak, as their lips are heavily muscled unlike sauropsids. A consequence of mammal suckling on milk.

[@reeyees50]

Pteranodon

[@Carlos-bz5oo]

It's a misconception that beaks make the jaws lighter. In reality, they don't, and can even be heavier at times. MANY Mesozoic birds and pterosaurs retained teeth; they were just unlucky enough to have died out in the kt event while our toothless birds somehow survived

[@docu-menter2702]

@@b.a.erlebacher1139 maybe due to the diets? If I remember correctly, the toothles birds was able to survive because most of them eat seeds while the birds with actual teeth was mostly carnivore.

[@Nightscape_]

I think bats are cute. I like bats a lot.

[@genghiskhan6809]

SpecEvo pterosaur sized bats when?

[@hildabumagat2688]

Check The Future Is Wild

[@nightlunastar]

Bats had 55-45 Millionen years to evolve hollow bones and a better breathing System to become bigger, but they didn't. Pterosaurs and birds had These Features befor they evolved fliet. Bats already reached they maximum size with a flying fox that has a 170cm Wingspan. And why even become bigger when there are doing fine. This would also mean that there have to change they diet. The only plausible thing I can think off is a higher oxygen Level in the future, wich leads to bigger insects and as a reacten to bitter bats. Maybe a 3m Wingspan bat, wich is still very small in comparition to most Pterosaurs dringend the cretausus period. I don't want to say it's impossible, but just very unlikly. Pterosaurs were small and only became big during the end. But they already had a good body Plan for that. If something happend that push the bats to become as big as Pterosaurs, then it's more likely for them to die out because they Don't have the right body for that. It's makes more sense for a bird to take that niche since we already had bigger birds in the past

[@Carlos-bz5oo]

@@nightlunastar It took pterosaurs over 40 million years until they attained large sizes. Also, biomechanical studies show 3 meter wingspan bats are viable

[@idle_speculation]

An issue with that is that bats don’t have any air sacs to save weight. Instead they need to have thin, strap-like bones, and you can only go so far with that until they get too brittle to support your body.

[@justsomehaatonpassingby4488]

9:38 Yin and Yang bat lineage

[@Zahri8Alang]

Don't tell me someone's already commented "if not friend why friend shaped"

[@Devin_Stromgren]

A note on one of the myths about bats, I have personally witnessed a bat get tangled in a woman's hair, so while rare that absolutely CAN happen.

[@jasonsantos3037]

Bats are fascinating creatures.🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇

[@Pawpawlogan]

6:08 catch the bat!

[@Reyma777]

Bats and pterosaurs still lack clear transitional fossils showing the progress of their respective transitions from flightlessness to true flight. The transition period from non-flying, to gliding to powered flight in bats [or their ancestors] must of happened very rapidly.

[@helmaschine1885]

There's a recent news story about a kid in Canada dying from rabies after a bat was found flying around is their bedroom. The childs parents didn't see a bite mark...but apparently whatever happened was enough. October 2024. And bat rescues frequently remind people NOT to touch them bare handed for a reason.

[@mistyhaney5565]

I think some bats are cute, but I think flying foxes are beautiful.

[@stevenlaube7535]

wow an map that assemblies the time

[@markvonwisco7369]

I'm not a fan of having bats in my house. But other than that, bats are cool as hell!

[@AetherNoble]

Maybe bats evolved flight in a single area that is no longer accessible in the Holocene. They could’ve spread around the world before their original pre-flight fossils were lost.

[@RafaCB0987]

Apparently evolving flight cost your lineage your fossil record, with only the birds being able to avoid the curse

[@Pangolin-6312]

Cool

[@dragonpjb]

I love bats!

[@ausgruenden1590]

Looking at the general body plan, I now wonder why there aren't any pterosaur-like bats in Dogal Dixon's "After Man".

[@Carlos-bz5oo]

Simple, it was written before the quadrupedal launching mechanism was studied in rigor

[@pedrogabrielduarte4544]

Do eulipotyphlans

[@aalhard]

Please highlight when it's ai art instead of a photo. I think YT requires that now anyway.😊

[@SlurpieDoo]

yes please♡

[@DZNation1]

What’s the background music?

[@HassanMohamed-rm1cb]

Hey Dr. Polaris, right after the evolution and the history of the Monotremes, why don't you get to think of a suggestion and creating a KZbin Videos all about the about the evolution and the history of the Prehistoric Marine Reptiles called the Protostegidae (Protostegas), the Extinct Marine Testudines (Turtles) that may have thought to be are the relatives to the Extant Leatherback Sea Turtles, such as Archelon, Atlantochelys, Bouliachelys, Calcarichelys, Chelosphargis, Cratochelone, Desmatochelys, Iserosaurus, Kansastega, Notochelone, Protostega, Rhinochelys, Santanachelys, Teguliscapha, Terlinguachelys, Pneumatoarthrus, and Ocepechelon in the next couple of weeks to think about that one coming up next?!⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️👍👍👍👍👍

[@AntoekneeDE]

Fascinated by Bats. Whilst reflecting on the likely success of future chiropterans next time Earth suffers an end-Cretaceous-type extinction event, in the same way that the avians prospered as the only surviving dinosaur lineage, it does make me wonder why the niche bats occupy today wasn’t seemingly taken up by others in the Mesozoic? As well as the possibility for small nocturnal pterosaurs and avians, the mammals would also seem a likely group to have taken up that role with Mesozoic mammals being far more diverse than usually credited for and that extending to tree-gliding forms. Perhaps there were, and delicacy of these creatures has resulted in absentee fossil records, or perhaps before the flowering plants there were fewer insects equivalent to moths meaning the only pickings were on the ground once night fell? I’ve probably answered my own question there….

[@Carlos-bz5oo]

volaticotheres took that niche

[@impishinformation7237]

Anyone who doesn’t think bats are cute clearly hasn’t seen one up close

[@benjones1717]

I'm just imagining prehistoric mice yeeting themselves out of trees

[@Bit-while_going]

I think, more likely, they were like hungry tree shrews that had figured out a better way to land on a fresh corpse by gliding over to it rather than just falling out of a tree.

[@mistyhaney5565]

I'm not sure how, what I think of as gliding morphology would evolve to wings constructed from fingers.

[@idle_speculation]

Flying lemurs are basically halfway there already

[@aalhard]

3:25 ...Scrotifera😮?😮? Don't tell me...😂

[@ecurewitz]

Sky puppies!

[@Don-ds3dy]

Did I hear that right? 20% of mammal species???

[@TheCentriole]

Haha early comment post

[@jgrandson5651]

About the bad reputation of bats in "western" cultures... In the pre cristian Europe the main cosmology was animist and believed in reincarnation, back to atleast megalitic societies. The year was divided between the horny season (life and nature) and the spooky season (death). Both halfs of the same cycle in equilibrium. The spooky season started in what now is known as halloween in the anglosaxon world, the day where nature died and the division between the world of the dead and the world of the living dissapeared. The souls of the dead would come to visit us and to reincarnate in a new generation of life next spring. Caves are asociated with the doors between both worlds. Bats living in caves and being more easily seen in at the end of summer and autum when the days get shorter, would explain why they are asociated with death. The spooky season ended when bears came back form the realm of the dead, from the caves. This festivity survives in the USA as the groundhog day. When cristianism spreaded over Europe, they activelly converted/absorved any "pagans" and persecuted the ones they couldnt. This made many animist simbols become vilified, like witches, crows, owls, bats, toads, mushrooms, bears... Other rituals got absorved like christmas trees and fires or summer harvest parties, and a few still survive after all, like carnivals. How we interact with the living beings around us tells a lot about our own history!

[@Zahri8Alang]

Don't they milk bats over in the USA Oh wait, that's Batman

[@Zahri8Alang]

Like ya know, milking the franchise-wise

[@guyh.4553]

I am very pro bats. If we didn't have bats, mosquito populations would be ridiculous. Pisses me off when I hear that somebody killed a bat. Just because it was creepy. 😡😠🤬

[@Saltici.Saturnii]

First.