We FINALLY Understand Why Bats Live So Long

[@rogerstone3068]

"We finally understand why bats live so long" - and then a list of things we DON'T fully understand about the perplexing biology of bats. Still fascinating, but the answer you promised is... still speculative.

[@petevenuti7355]

I would have been just as interested in watching if he said, "we now have a clue" or "we now have a hint" instead of "we now understand".

[@grapesofhypocrisy9842]

I heard high intensity exercise creates ozone and certain cells can wield ozone as a weapon. Flying might produce ozone.

[@tikimillie]

They’re obviously vampires in disguise

[@SabbaticusRex]

@@tikimillie Bats can be super cute -- but they are _total_ dicks .

[@sunninho]

Their biology and evolution allows them to withstand viruses that kill all others, including rabies. We must inherit their genes and become bats

[@hardinhenry]

Why have I only learned about bat‘s echo location in school, but never their resistance against diseases and aging??? This seems so much more impressive to me

[@mizzshortie907]

That’s another reason the vampire lore is comparable to bats

[@EFM_95]

Education system sucks.. its purpose is more economical than real knowledge

[@jchinckley]

@@EFM_95 Sad, but true.

[@melodyszadkowski5256]

I have a suggestion. Contact Bat Conservation International (BCI) online. I have learned an unbelievable amount about bats from them.

[@PasserbyYT]

​@@EFM_95Money is important. Did you have biology though?

[@davidwoods1622]

The immune system may not be directly responsible for the longevity. He mentioned in the last 5 minutes that bats have better DNA validation. Just having that may lead to the longer life. DNA validation is the running theory on why elephants and whales live so long and lack cancer.

[@AnnoyingNewsletters]

Validation helps us live better and longer. 😉

[@cynthiagonzalez658]

Hypotheses need proof ‼️

[@anim8torfiddler871]

Fascinating. Each passing day I am reminded of my GROWING ignorance. I would love to learn more about the concept of *DNA Validation.* Think I'll do a little browsing... Thanks to all for making the comments as good as the article.

[@Angel_EU34]

We have very effective autophagy tho... problem is we eat way to often and way too much and pretty much never activate it.

[@gregferguson7737]

​@Angel-wo8gv additionally mTOR ends up chronically switched ON due to cell senescence and cells fighting to offset sarcopenia which blocks autophagic activation. Rapamycin adminstered in intermittent doses might compensate for such in humans.

[@talk2tomer]

You're not taking into consideration that humans show the exact same temperatures while jogging or practicing other aerobic exercise..... this might provide another reason for why a daily exercise routine is so important.......

[@Gigus6969]

I work under someone who has a doctorate in mammology/ecology and he specializes in bats, so I feel the need to correct some information on this video if you are interested in learning about bats. Firstly, bats are indeed as susceptible to disease as other animals. Currently they are more susceptible than other species and many of them are at risk of becoming extinct. White-Nose syndrome is a disease affecting all bat species caused by a fungus which was first seen in 2016. It has a mortality rate of over 90% and kills bats mostly by disrupting their hibernation, leading to them using vital fat reserves and dying of starvation. In severe cases it can cause them to be unable to breathe due to covering the rostrum or cause wing damage as the fungus actually penetrates tissues. Bats are not immortal, they are in severe risk if a cure isn't found. Secondly, the postulate that he is referring to with body size and lifespan is definitely something that we see a lot happen in biology, but as with anything else there are major exceptions to these patterns. The naked mole rat is the most extreme example I can think of because they can live up to 30 years, when compared to their most related extant cousins, all rodents which have lifespans of years in some species. Bats are very, very distant from rodents, they are closer to whales, all carnivores, giraffe, horse, etc than to us which all have lifespans similar to bats. We are closer to rodents than rodents are to bats. Phylogeny can be a better way to understand lifespans in animals because in most cases closely related species tend to have longer (K selected) lifespans or shorter (R selected) lifespans. Like anything though there are always exceptions that we don't understand.

[@MrCazjd]

I have an idea, leave them alone??

[@scottbrower9052]

He also doesn't address the wide range of bat species and sizes. Everything from tiny insectivores to giant fruit bats (a.k.a., flying foxes). Surely, lifespans will vary.

[@promerops]

@@scottbrower9052 Are the insectivores and the fruit bat/flying foxes all that closely related?

[@scottbrower9052]

@@promerops I don't think they are, no, but I'm not a zoologist.

[@Dcupholder]

A man that lives to 80 which is the average life expectancy and has a normal heart rate of 80 beats per minute has approximately 3,36384 billion heart beats . A 150heart beats pm bat that lives to 40( *they hibernate that’s why 150 not 200/unusual for a bat, they live to 20 years tops) has 3,1536 billion heart beats

[@mikefiatx19]

Mice eat about 15 times a day, bats eat twice a day between dusk and dawn. Maybe the bat goes into Autophagy due to not eating. Autophagy is known to repair human cells.

[@gqas1247]

Wow fifteen times!?! 😮

[@higherresolution4490]

You missed the biology of birds. A rat who lives about 3 years has the same body weight and high metabolic rate as a pigeon. But the lifespan of pigeons is 35 years. And they tend to never look old. Instead of carnosine made in the liver from two amino acids, (beta-alanyl-L-histidine) as an endogenous anti-glycation agent, birds manufacture anserine, which is 7 times more powerful an anti-glycation agent as carnosine.

[@EkilRevolution]

what is the anti-glycative mechanism?

[@higherresolution4490]

The anti-glycation mechanism is defined by a biochemical pathway that you can find on Wikipedia or any biochemical website. There's no way to create that in the KZbin comment section. Quite some years ago, Russian doctors created a treatment for cataracts, which represent glycated chrystalin proteins in the lens. In this case, they use acetyl-l-carnosine in a liquid form.

[@Frrk]

The lifespan of pigeons in the wild is like 3-6 years. In captivity they do live longer, like 20 years

[@higherresolution4490]

@@Frrk The lifespan of pigeons in the wild is complex. The shorter lifespan is partially a product of predation. The other factor is weather events, and also climate in general. 35 years is the maximum lifespan of a pigeon, and I can cite that fact.

[@StrangersIteDomum]

Is it because pigeons in the wild eat too much McDonald's and junk food?

[@AlEndo01]

One fascinating additional issue, not addressed in this video: maximal metabolic capacity. Several years ago, a book, "Power, Sex and Suicide" by Mark Lane addressed a fascinating phenomenon, having to do with "excess" mitochondrial capacity. If you look at the weight vs. longevity graph, birds live much longer than "expected." A finch smaller than a mouse lives 30 years, and 3 lb. parrots can live 90. Turns out a trained endurance athlete can increase his/her metabolic rate with exercise by a factor of 2.5. A bird can do a lot more than 20. This "excess" reduces the generation of reactive oxidative chemicals that are detrimental to health and longevity. I wonder how bats do in terms of "mitochondrial reserve."

[@Michal_Kosakowski]

Now it makes sense why Batman sounds like he has a serious permanent throat infection, and never dies.

[@vikassm]

This comment is underrated. Thumbs up 👍

[@gilyun8352]

Its herpes

[@darthregulus]

He ate out Cat Woman and got the clap in throat 😂😂😂😂

[@gordslater]

me-ow chow

[@kathyolney4083]

😂😂😂😂

[@MrHeuvaladao]

Bats are like mr. Burns. They have so many diseases that one ends up fighting another, thus leaving the host alone for living long. 😂😂😂

[@paradisepipeco]

*_"To a rat, a bat is an angel."_* ~~ Bruce Wayne

[@b.a.erlebacher1139]

I know of two age records for bats, one (39) from Alberta, Canada, and the other (41) from Russia. It would be interesting to know if microbats from warm climates, that don't spend half their lives hibernating, are also of comparable length. Btw, the Alberta record was from a living wild bat that had been banded as an adult, so could be even older.

[@HappyBeezerStudios]

small bats in hot climates would be even more affected by fever. Sure, the small body size means they would cool out faster, but the climate mitigates a lot of that.

[@Arionid]

would depend on their heart rate 💀

[@UniDocs_Mahapushpa_Cyavana]

It makes sense bats 🦇 would live long, because they physically cannot maintain large broods due to weight concerns. That means in order to have a lot of offspring, they *need* to live long, thus creating a massive selection pressure to gain de-aging adaptations.

[@PastaAivo]

Disease resistance could emerge in a similar way, since bats tend to live in fairly dense colonies and very poopy caves, so they'd sure need to be fairly resistant.

[@kriegmesserdclxvi2833]

Makes sense for an animal that lives in large colonies to evolve greater resistance to social contact diseases.

[@ouknow1446]

Many herd animals are susceptible to social contact diseases.

[@Alienami]

Especially an indoor moist environment of cooler temperatures, typically.

[@ryandylan6946]

Yes it would make sense, buttt humans and a lot of other mammals have always lived in colonies without these great resistance. i think pure luck in the genetic lotterie is the reason

[@Jack-he8jv]

@@ryandylan6946only relatively recently we started living in similar cesspit densities, even still, americas were wiped out by plagues that dont effect cesspit dwellers.

[@policy8analyst]

I hate mosquitos so I love bats.

[@andykaufman7620]

I just thought of a great movie idea. Researchers are trying to create life extending science for humans and create human vampires instead. 28 Days move over, 33 Nights is the new hotness.

[@Italianjedi7]

I’ve always loved bats, and this cements my desire to help them.

[@SabbaticusRex]

Ah-hah ! ..but a bat's pet pangolin caused Disease X . So , ya , bats are _total_ dicks .

[@nerdjournal]

Fruit Bats are frigging cute. Like winged puppies.

[@christophermullins7163]

​@@nerdjournal❤

[@KorithStoneheart]

Help them by not interfering. We think we help nature by interfering with it and we actually cause greater harm

[@sneakydragon2352]

@@KorithStoneheart that's such an ignorant statement

[@gtd9536]

Subscribed!! I love it. My interest in longevity biology naturally lead me into an interest in bats long before covid outbreak. What delight to see a basic summary of all I have read over many years into one short video. Thanks for making these facts about these remarkable creatures and the interplay between disease and the immune system widely available and more accessible to the public. You now have another regular viewer!

[@philclancaster]

My late father remembered seeing syphilis being treated with malaria at the psychiatric hospital where he worked in Sussex, maybe late 1950's or early 1960's

[@dannydadog1987]

How did it work out and why particulary the psychiatric hospital?

[@virtualtools_3021]

@@dannydadog1987It did work fairly often but fell out of favor because of safer alternatives like antibiotics that became avaliable. Possibly in the psychiatric hospital because advanced syphilis causes neurological symptoms

[@robinac6897]

St.Francis?

[@waxon2]

Thank you Dr Ben for promoting Planet Wild. Their videos of collaborative land/habitat restoration Permaculture techniques and the subsequent successes are fantastic.

[@skybluskyblueify]

Bombing bats help to spread rabies rather than eliminate the threat to us. Before the bats were concentrated in one area, after the bomb those that survive fly off to new locations . Another reason why bats have special immune systems is that they range far and wide and come into contact with many more animal species. Since many live in large concentrations they need to be versatile in how they handle diseases.

[@SabbaticusRex]

Very cool . Where did these bats go - asking for a friend . Ignore the bombs .

[@lewischime5737]

​@@SabbaticusRexlol

[@agaragar21]

So why isn't this the case for Humans who gather in large metropolis's like Tokyo ?........is it cause we're basically a new species, or our current environs are a new circumstance to our genetics

[@nekhumonta]

​@@agaragar21humans have had to endure a lot of plagues since we started to live in cities, but we adapted by increasing our hygiene.

[@bigheadrhino]

@@agaragar21out adaptations is what we can do with our brains. Hygiene like someone else said and medicine are examples of this. We are a communal species so we ven the fact that some of us die from disease is an adaptation because dying stops the disease from spreading.

[@enduraman1]

It’s not just a high temperature but the temperature variability that is Key. Bat’s go from a low body temperature to a high body temperature. The same thing goes with heart rate variability. Bats have a huge difference between low heart rate and high heart rate.

[@winoodlesnoodles1984]

There is another way of looking at this. Activity promotes circulation. Circulation aides the immune system. It isn't just the high body temperature but the circulating of the blood that aides the immune system. If I feel a bit down, like I may be coming down with something, I will go for a run, bike ride or hike. When I get back I feel 100% again. It is just movement promoting blood circulations which makes it easier for the immune system to do it's job. The only illness I've had in the past 35 years is disentery which I got from drinking hand squeezed lemonaide in Peru. In my defense, the beer there tastes like crap and I need a break from it. I should have gotten bottled soda. The point is that attempting to list a single thing as the sole reason for the bat's longevity and resistance to illness is a ignorant, at best.

[@miguelmejia4656]

mic drop

[@HappyBeezerStudios]

If it were just circulation, small animals would generally live longer. They have incredibly high heart rates and small bodies. But hey, the lemonade was bad but the beer was good? Just like in the middle ages. Just make sure to drink small beer or table beer if you don't want to get completely wasted.

[@winoodlesnoodles1984]

@@HappyBeezerStudios 100% Which is why I stated "aides" the immune system. Good circulation with a poor immune system does jack squat. However, high body temperature from exercise, the added circulation from than exercise and a good immune system and you have a solid recipe to fight off an incredible number of diseases. That is not all diseases, because nothing other than death does that. 😁

[@cykeok3525]

@@winoodlesnoodles1984 Your premise is contingent on the assumption that all other small mammals have a "poor immune system"?

[@miguelmejia4656]

@@winoodlesnoodles1984 you also seem to forget other mammals make vitamin c in their body. so mammals don't really get sick as often. where humans don't make vitamin c and we have to consume it from nature and food.

[@basantitanga3631]

Like Batman said Whatever doesn't kill you, makes you stronger.

[@RuneRelic]

Theres actually a two stage immune response in humans when you think about. 1. Body temperature. 2. Indleness. In constrast, on serveral occasions when I start to feel sick and probably against better advice, I will go for a run. Specifically to get the blood flowing through my system as efficiently as possible, rather than stagnating. So perhaps two very different methodologies are at play. One hyper accelerates blood chemistry/temperature, while trying to keep disease transfer minimised, through low flow rates. One hyper accelerates both blood chemistry/temperature and efficiency/flowrate to kill disease as rapidly as possible, ignoring the transfer rate. Stasis vs hyperflow. Be interesting to see how fast the blood chemistry is in bats, if there is little to no serious inflammation. Perhaps this is done the opposite way around too. At least in relative terms. Preffering a high flow filtration system, might explain why there is few if any zombie cells in bats. Yet serious accumulation in humans. Perhaps the solution then, is to hyper accelerate/filter blood flow, rather than increase immune response aggressiveness and the resulting inflamation. Thus unfit people die early. Heart disease through blockages and/or reduced flow rates, with materials that arent flushed and accumulate in the system instead. Basically, we need to flush the turds from the blood, instead of being left with something that looks like a fatberg in a sewer.

[@anim8torfiddler871]

It seems to be a VERY COMMON feature of pathogenic microbes to have a fatal sensitivity to excursions to a metabolic temperature regime that the Host can tolerate longer than the _bug._ I'm guessing the Fever response would NOT be so nearly universal if there were many more heat-tolerant microbes. Seems to suggest they evolved and spend a lot of time in colder environments.

[@sneakydragon2352]

@@anim8torfiddler871 temperature isn't only an offensive weapon, it's also a support weapon, a lot of our defence mechanisms work better when in high temperatures, fevers don't usually get rid of a cold by themselves, fevers help our immune system work better. As for "evolved in colder environments" argument, not necessarily it's a lot easier to "resist" cold than it is to resist heat, as when a cell/virus is in a cold (sometimes freezing) environment, it slows down the production of proteins and remains inert for a long time, while if its exposed to heat/radiation it simply starts to die because the radiation/heat damages its internal structure and delicate protein-production mechanisms

[@anim8torfiddler871]

@@sneakydragon2352 thanks for amplifying the information.

[@ouknow1446]

In another words heat up which is why fevers are often a reaction to infection.

[@zoeydeu2261]

In my family we do the opposite (not running). If a viral infection is taking place, we rest/sleep and sweat it out by covering ourselves with blankets to quickly increase the fever - up to a certain point, so it doesn't cause heatstroke/brain damage - to cook the virus. The rest is so the body can focus on fighting the infection, and sleep helps with recovery. If done early enough, we usually get well pretty fast.

[@monicabello3527]

Wow, so Batty, the bat living the cave of my backyard will live longer than me. I love him❤ Every year I can't wait spring to see him again.

[@dankedozo]

It's Morbin' time!! Loved this video! I did find it funny where you mention a study where they give bats ebola then immediately show a clip of a bat biting a gloved finger!

[@superkd7030]

Zombie Apocalypse origin story right there. 😂😂😂

[@michaelmeredith912]

Yep harmless…stick your finger in its mouth 😂

[@danielasare5560]

😂😂 I’m sure it was pun intended

[@anthonycade9034]

The diversity of mammals on our earth is astounding. From flying creatures to enormous swimmers of the oceans. I wonder how many other planets have evolved mammals and what would they look like. It’d be really cool if when we die if we get to explore these questions.

[@MI-wc6nk]

Personally the most attractive feature in a bat as a mammal, is it ability to fly - anyone working on that?!? ;) Thanks as always for your great content.

[@douglasbrenner1351]

I'm no expert, but I strongly feel the bats ability to fly is probably related to their possession of wings.

[@tharusmc9177]

​@@douglasbrenner1351😆

[@christophermullins7163]

​@douglasbrenner1351 😂 tyvm ily have a great week

[@sneakydragon2352]

humans are too heavy for this, unless the wings are too long and it requires a full engine to create the energy to produce it, in that case we have airplanes and helicopters....

[@ibenrubbinov5463]

Thumperfitz, Iben's wife, here. Thanks for the fabulous video!!! Ya' know, bat's wings are basically seriously webbed hands making them the best mammalian cheerleaders as every time they fly by, they give you 2 thumbs up, so Awesome or bats!!!!!

[@ShaneSaxson]

Fever theory is kind of correct. The nightly fevers from flying hold the virus count at a low level. Thus giving the bat time to produce antibodies to said virus.

[@rickwrites2612]

Hmm..except he does say they did have a high viral load, they just didn't get sick, and other mammals with similar fever got sick if they had low virus level...the serine vs leucine in immune system and targeted immune system seem more promising

[@davidbatista1183]

Perhaps virus "hybernate" and therefore doesn't do damage ?? 🤔 Like bears that don't do anything during that state but instead of hybernating on extreme cold they do it on extreme hot 😆

[@Bialy_1]

@@davidbatista1183 The video contains info about bats with extremely high amount of viruses that would literally be super deadly to other mammals and was not doing anything to bats... so there is no hibernation and there is huge resistance to what ever is killing other animals or the virus is not fully functional in them/cauing different reaction to some of his mechanisms).

[@davidbatista1183]

@@Bialy_1 perhaps u misunderstood my comment ?? 🤔

[@mnomadvfx]

@@Bialy_1 "so there is no hibernation and there is huge resistance to what ever is killing other animals or the virus is not fully functional in them/cauing different reaction to some of his mechanisms" Bats seem to have evolved into an ideal carrier (non infected host) species for a multitude of viruses. The ongoing hyperthermic action caused by their nocturnal flights may be the primary culprit for this ideal carrier phenomenon by the regular decimation of viral loads by way of thermal decomposition. The viral loads have the daytime to recover somewhat by division.

[@tikaanipippin]

40C is not wildly deleterious for bacterial/viral pathogens. It however improves all elements of the mammalian immune response, from cellular response of macrophages to cytokine release. Optimum temperature for gut bacteria is about 37C Pathogens actually do better at about 40C, but use local resources at a greater rate, leaving them vulnerable to immune system action.

[@josephharden5592]

This seems like the beginning of a new school vampire flick where we try to extend our lives...but end up turning ourselves into vampires 😒😂

[@mastergems5145]

That movie already exists where humans become almost extinct while people have become vampires

[@josephharden5592]

@@mastergems5145 but was it based on this knowledge about the longevity of bats, humans trying to use that scientific knowledge and then inadvertently creating vampires?

[@ynraider]

@@josephharden5592 "Morbius". It's the movie of all time... "It's Morbin' Time!"

[@ynraider]

@@mastergems5145 "Daybreakers" is an instant classic!

[@hemidas]

Daybreakers?

[@tamarrajames3590]

I love bats…every one of them. The Flying-Foxes are so clever and curious, and their nightly work of pollinating trees, and spreading seeds ensure the survival of rain forests. Micro-bats have such vivid personalities for their size…lots of battitude is always needed. I have never met a bat I didn’t fall in love with instantly. Thank you for this little peek into their world.🖤🇨🇦

[@PaulG.x]

3:51 I was not aware organisms use POSIX operating systems! Systemd too! It makes sense though. The other OS would result in a blue screen of death immediately after birth and evolution would have eliminated it aeons ago.

[@stevendorries]

Technically NT based Windows is POSIX compliant too, POSIX compliance doesn’t guarantee stability. See also, feinting goats who are clearly running XP Pro without any service packs

[@ps.2]

Eh, neither sudo nor systemctl are POSIX commands. Maybe you meant to say Linux?

[@anim8torfiddler871]

This is one Post where I MUST Compliment the folks Commenting --> Browsing through the Comments has been both Highly Entertaining, and Unusually Informative and Educational. Got a bunch of Erudite and Articulate smarty pants commenters carping, taking pot shots at the host and at each other, but with reasonable civility. It's not often I'm inspired to go do some research on physics or chemistry or math to remind self of some equation or name or principle referenced in someone's comments. Putting Stretch marks on the Existing Stretch marks, while enjoying occasional Belly laughs. Thanks a lot!!!

[@italucenaz]

9:27 IT'S DIANE GUERRERO! I didn't know she made stock videos and images back then, but it does make sense since she would only become and actress at 24 and she had to start from somewhere

[@gregorypkampwirth8852]

Bravo Dr Miles for this amazing video on bats, my favorite animal ever 🦇 most people fear them, but I love 💕 and thank them for their service to humanity!! They're bug killers and bring us order to our world 🌍 in ways that we don't understand!! Many also believe strongly that they are deadly disease 🦠 carriers, but I think not, so again I totally thank you for your valuable information on them and I hope that people will understand that bats 🦇 are our best friends and NOT OUR ENEMIES!!! 😊

[@markmuller7962]

One theory says that having less predators increases the evolutionary advantages of staying fertile for longer and later in life which otherwise makes little sense given that it/he would die early anyways being catched by predators. Humans should have a much longer life span then we currently have but apparently War has replaced predators historically/anthropologically speaking

[@jBiz91]

I recently watched a video on the biggest fence in Australia. The baby kangaroos on the side with less predators began to grow a lot slower than the kangaroos on the side with predators and I'm sure it said they was giving birth later in life. Also after world war 2 during the baby boom over 70% of births were male which has to be true otherwise I would have more than zero girlfriends 😂

[@markmuller7962]

@@jBiz91 So interesting, yes it's very possible that the biology of pregnancy is heavily affected by what the mother see around her environment, actually I remember a documentary where it was scientifically confirmed on many traits of the child, the doc wasn't about gender ratio but other characteristics

[@b.a.erlebacher1139]

​@@jBiz91Great story, but not true. As usual, about equal numbers of boys and girls were born after WWII. The only places you see a disproportionate number of boys to girls is places that allow people to select for sex by abortion or infanticide. China is an example.

[@b.a.erlebacher1139]

Humans already have more than twice the lifespan of other mammals of the same size. You can see this in the charts shown in this video.

[@jBiz91]

@@b.a.erlebacher1139 Spikes in the number of boys typically happen at the end of wars. This phenomenon has been dubbed the “returning soldier effect”. It can be seen after both world wars, when more babies were born and even more of them than usual were boys. Also human lifespan has doubled in the last 200 years thanks to mecidine, clean water and technology which other mammals don't have access to

[@JDM_Fanatic]

As someone that has been around since the 1300's after a cave exploration tour, I can agree that these little bastards are immortal.

[@VRnamek]

I thought it was from drinking blood and hibernating in a coffin

[@sciencefliestothemoon2305]

Slight correction to fever in us. Fever is an increase in the metabolic rate, this also means metabolic pathways within the immunesystem are gearing up. Yes some infections are more susceptible to higher temperatures, but there are plenty who enjoy a good 40°C.

[@danielwitham1791]

Cov from bats? Maybe pre bioengineering...

[@tim_koch14]

Maybe he confused SARS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2. Not very probable though.

[@dylaninnes8541]

Lol yup

[@wolf-xf6hf]

Thats sars cov 2 not covid 19 two different viruses

[@tim_koch14]

@@wolf-xf6hf Covid-19 is what they called the illness caused by SARS-CoV-2.

[@deavman]

@@wolf-xf6hf From the WHO: Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is an infectious disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Most people infected with the virus will experience mild to moderate ...

[@thestresstheoryofhansselye3607]

The secret to bat longevity may be the same as that of the mole rats. Caves usually have elevated concentrations of carbon dioxide because 1. CO2 is produced by the vast mass of microbial life that thrives deep beneath the earth's surface, and it gradually seeps to the earth's surface, where it is avidly consumed by photosynthetic bacteria and multicellular plants 2. CO2 has a higher molecular weight than most other atmospheric gases so it is affected by gravity and most CO2 in the earth's atmosphere hovers close to the earth's surface, and it collects in caves where air movement is minimal. sleeping and hibernating in the enriched CO2 atmosphere of caves may explain their enhanced metabolic performance when they venture forth from the caves.

[@hherpdderp]

No wonder Ozzy is immune to everything.

[@boke75]

Except maybe to brain damage. 😂

[@ophirbactrius8285]

"Welcome to the Bat Cave" 😎🦇🦹🏻‍♂️

[@_Nobody_Special]

@@boke75No brain no pain.

[@okman9684]

We know why Bats live long because they are all Vampire 🧛‍♂️🦇

[@richardkudrna7503]

There was human testing on hyperthermia as cure. The first subject died then the researchers learned to adjust the ph change in blood and increased head (brain cooling). It showed some cancer death and considerable virus death.

[@wolf-xf6hf]

No fucking shot researchers just killed a dude

[@PikaPetey]

So batman is basically going to live FOREVER?!

[@blengi]

you'd think any cellular ability to inhibit dna changes due to high virus loads bats might have evolved, would also have the effect of making integrity of normal dna information and consequentially other cellular processes much more robust and hence likely less susceptible to the effects of aging too...

[@ps.2]

Key word "evolved," though. Any mechanism that inhibits DNA damage _also inhibits evolution._ This is not always an evolutionary advantage.

[@blengi]

@@ps.2 perhaps, but we know different tissue types can have different rates of mutation/viral introgression and therefore different tissues can be more of less robust in terms of dna alteration. Such that reasonably the robustness of most of the body versus gametes carrying forth the evolutionary variation doesn't have to be 100% in lock step. Surely there is a statisitical signature in the dna of whether this is the case, be interesting if anyone knows.

[@kenhansew7892]

Also, loved the heat reference to Vegas, where it is early October and still we await days with a high

[@michaelharding4556]

Love the cute dogs to illustrate mammals 😂

[@Gecko17k]

Very interesting. Looks like people are working hard to understand these bat benefits. It's rather impressive, that lifespan!

[@stevendorries]

2:17 was that Dracula: Dead and Loving it?

[@iluvjay6911]

Nope it was the Hobbit

[@iluvjay6911]

That was sarcasm

[@brianwnc8168]

The easiest way to get rid of senescent cells is to learn about how to take Fisetin in the proper way for high absorption while also taking the amount that is a threshold dose to activate the natural clearing of senescent cells.

[@DrMaddy101]

Is the miracle cream that comes from this called Benjamin Bat-on? Like Benjamin.. Button.. I'll show myself out

[@YVO007]

Well done, Thank you Side note: There are no more wide forests in the UK.

[@WillPower311]

41c = 105.8F

[@bluemamba5317]

Ok stone age emperialist

[@Gabriel-rx2kl]

105.8F = 41c

[@black5f]

Very interesting. We have Pipistrelles flying round the garden at night eating tons of midges and other insects. We can learn so much from these little critters. We also have badgers (UK)? Badgers are interesting, critters, evolved before us, Neanderthals used to hunt them. They evolved before Mammoths. And yet despite constant persecution, are still foraging around in my garden today and pretty much immune to everything. The last of the mega fauna.

[@marknasia5293]

so they were looking for the fountain of youth, it escaped the lab and 2020-2023 we all got screwed over, loss of freedom etc.

[@knivescom]

They were not looking for the fountain of youth. They were looking to kill us off.

[@beakhammer2638]

Great video. Probably the most important and interesting one I've seen for a long time. I have been a medical doctor for 39 years. Stop doctors giving kids anti pyretics frequently. Thanks from Ireland.

[@TheSkystrider]

Great video Dr Ben Miles! Very informative and amazing! Seeing those cute bats makes me want one as a pet 😂 I live in Manitoba and a long time ago i heard that one way to help the environment is to buy/make a bat house to help bats live in the city since they are a cornerstone species. Would a slightly higher city population of bats increase the spread of diseases amongst animals and humans or is it such a low population of bats already that increasing it by 50% wouldnt change disease spread but would help nature with the other ways that diverse ecosystems benefit?

[@LocomotiveThought]

Really interesting video, I knew absolutely nothing about bats. I appreciate subject matter like Biology & Genetics over Space & Theory. "We have it on a table in front of us." is my kind of science.

[@maybehuman4]

So that's why BATMAN doesn't age 😆

[@n.henzler50]

Unless you count Dark Knight Returns, where he's 50 years old and looks 80. Given what he puts himself through, that's probably accurate.

[@cooliipie]

​@@n.henzler50 That's just a movie, not the comic

[@Gary_Texan_USA]

Thank you, Ben, for your comprehensible and erudite essays.

[@FabianBarajas]

Can I just say I really appreciate the sudo systemctl command you put on screen. Nice!

[@akostadinov]

yeah, I upvoted the video for this reason

[@ayanned]

same

[@kenhansew7892]

Just discovered your wonderful channel and wanted to say thank you for sharing. Your insights and explanations are top notch. The levity sprinkled here and there act as ‘floaties’ that help carry this ignoramus through the deeper parts of some of these informative videos without which I’d have drowned and been swept away, never to view these more.

[@niteshades_promise]

Ok now lets stop messing with bat viruses in military labs🤐🍻

[@crocop2o12]

No need to worry about that, they already made GX_P2V , the deadliest virus ever with 100% death rate, so if you hear about something like when sarscov2 started, it means they released it

[@CS.AtheistChannel.VoteBidenAOC]

No way. Bats r cool

[@DutchmanAmsterdam]

Too much money and power in it. Ask Fauci and Xi, although they tend to avoid honesty.

[@ichigokurosaki2838]

Your comment needs to be pinned 📌.

[@alpacaofthemountain8760]

Found the fool

[@lehsu]

Put the transcript of this video in Chat-GPT to summarize what he said into a minute video.

[@troyclayton]

Having a thumbnail with false information is among the fastest ways for a channel I've never seen to get put on the 'do not recommend channel' list.

[@yakacm]

So, I am a fan of the bat rescue channel MegaBatty, which is ran by an Aussie lady called Meg, hence the channel name. Anyway, far from being 'elite survivalists' bats are rather fragile, with maybe 70-80% of the bats she rescues having to be euphonised, and these are flying foxes that she mainly rescues, which are massive. Bats can't take off from the ground, so something as simple as they land on someone's patio, dooms them to death. Their wings are incredibly fragile, so a tear in the wing membrane, or a broken bone in one of their wings would result in them being put down.

[@blktarockstar818]

When this medicine is available there is 0 chance poor people get access

[@jamesricker3997]

For a little while. Profit is a huge motivation

[@Joshua-pr9vg]

Well civilization wont provide them food and shelter so why would they receive medicine?

[@MrGoodaches]

Not just the poor, but the working class and middle class too. The privileged class and their grifting minions have always looked at economic and social policies from the standpoint that we should be satisfied with subsistence wages and just die off whenever our health or age makes 60 hour work weeks untenable. Not every ultra wealthy person has such a predatory perspective of less privileged citizens. Some understand very well the historical correlation of prosperous middle classes with innovation, economic growth, and social stability. The ones that aren’t grubbing for another $million next week do realize that an equitable society will long term result in more wealth opportunity for them and their descendants. But, if you care to see public policy mandates that will devalue middle class workers to serfdom, and eliminate safeguards on natural resources with intention to provide accelerated wealth growth for a big segment of the privileged class, read Project 2025.

[@regisdumoulin]

Bats are awesome, I so wanted one as a pet when I was a child! Sadly I was never able to convince my parents this was a good idea 😂

[@khizar511]

People are 100 percent sure that God doesn't exist, but they don't fully understand the bats yet.

[@TheOuroboros84]

Yes, genetics are *that* complicated... We don't need a man in the sky to justify it's complexity

[@LacayoDe]

Doesn't make sense to explain complexity with something even more complex

[@X862go]

Yeah, evaluation is complicated

[@RolandoGarza]

3:50 kudos for including a properly written Linux command

[@girmo2676]

was scrolling to this comment :D

[@anthonygrodecki7968]

Thanks for your work very simplified which is good for me. I think some of this work could cross over to auto immune conditions which also have this inflammation factors.

[@NetoJ0N]

Oh so thats why we came up with vampires? Nice

[@SickofTired]

It's amazing what people can go on and on about if they ignore the lack of science surrounding "viruses"

[@cetomedo]

TL;DR to my TL;DW: Bats had to cook themselves to fly, the measures they took to prevent cooking themselves to death also happened to fix aging. Also their measures made them almost immune to viruses and subsequently caused the viruses that survived to become really powerful. So, long story short: We aren't actually certain but what most likely happened is that bats started cooking themselves in order to fly, which caused them to mutate more (which means more cancer) and made their immune systems too responsive, so they added more checks for mutations and lowered the responsiveness of their immune system to their own cells. The former overcompensated and made them far more resistant to mutations than other mammals, and the latter increased amount of infections they had. So they then had to drastically improve the parts of their immune system that wouldn't get triggered, which also overcompensated and gave them a ridiculously powerful immune system. Superior mutation resistance meant the primary cause of aging, which is ultimately a form of DNA damage, no longer applied, and superior immune system meant bats were practically immune to disease. All that also meant that diseases that could survive in bats (even if they couldn't actually multiply enough to kill a bat) would have to be extremely competent viruses compared to your average virus, so when they managed to infect other creatures, they were some of the most dangerous pathogens normal immune systems would ever encounter.

[@jteichma]

Super-interesting coverage! Thanks!🙏

[@somnyad]

In 2019, I visited Bankok and rescued a baby flying fox bat. It was so cute, but I ended up eating a cookie after feeding it... Before washing my hands. Even if I hadn't, because I was handling it without gloves or a towel, it could have scraped me accidentally. Rabies is so dangerous that they injected me with a full-body rabies vaccination. Not only did I get four debilitating injections (I couldn't get around without a wheel chair for three days), I had to have 7 weeks of small injections each week. I recommend, if you want to help the bats and plan to handle them, get a rabies vaccine beforehand. It's a lot easier.

[@laurieparis2203]

Fascinating! So great to learn something completely new .

[@ropi5103]

Fascinating video and also highlights the respect we all need to have for nature, for any species.

[@shreeshdixit3391]

Insect diet or fruit diet along with flight adaptations like birds is behind their longivity 😊

[@thomasgrimm1664]

Hello Dr. Ben, thanks for being transparent about your involvement in the company. I'm curious about your recommendation for Planet Wild. Is that segment part of a paid advert? I've seen them mentioned on other channels as well and would like to know if they sponsor videos.

[@somnyad]

We can also make bat houses on our homes to give bats a place to live. We can also give them food. Finally, we can put bird baths or ponds (water containers) on our balconies and in gardens to support wildlife, including bats.

[@Grim2]

You make it sound like they live 100's of years.

[@xammai9679]

Why am I so invested in this video at 3am?

[@xammai9679]

With work tomorrow.. 🫣

[@luzi29]

All these discoveries are great. Unfortunately we still lack many tools to achieve viable therapies. There is so much to discover! What a time to be young!

[@edmanr2010]

I am not going to lie listening to the part about body temperature reminded me a lot of the Wim Hof cold training.

[@paulwright8378]

Like when you get a cold you gotta sweat it out by doing some gardening or exercise to heat up your body so much that you get over the cold quicker

[@waxon2]

Thank you Dr Ben for such an excellent and informative video :) Thank you also for mentioning how continued habitat destruction is a primary driver of extinction threats. Let us learn to respect all life and respect the unique gifts each species has to offer.

[@Abyss-Will]

I think salamanders, tritons and similars are also pretty small animals that can live for decades and they also seem to have some amazing bodily functions that allow them to regrow whole limbs !

[@WilliamScavengerFish]

Being human kinda sucks. Bet some would wish they were giant clams or Greenland sharks...or fruit bats.

[@TheGroundSloth]

It was mentioned that when bats increase their core temperature, they do cellular and DNA damage to themselves. However, they have increased ability to check/repair this damage. My understanding of how viruses work is that they send their own DNA into the cells and reprogram the cells with embedded foreign DNA. I wonder if the bat's increased DNA repair and checkpoint system undoes any virus tampering or at least lessens it. This along with the increased temperature degrading viruses already existing or being made in the body.

[@jonathanhughes8679]

Turtles are basically the reverse, they do most of their senescence cells form earlier in their life spans. So they age more when younger and almost stop aging once they reach adulthood. This is why scientists think that we might be able to stop aging. ..

[@zalllon]

Problem is was parents and people take medication to reduce fevers even mild fevers. I’m grateful my parents used to say “ just sweat it out”.

[@biancacdakitteee7161]

I LOVE BATS!!! They are just so frackin cuuuuuute! Little puppy baby squishy faces

[@Jamex07]

Here's my theory on why bats are evolving longer life spans and are also massive sources of disease. The same thing happened in birds and primates and is starting to happen in koalas. Its what happens when a species transitions to a new ecosystem where there are no natural predators. And instead of spending all their day foraging or hiding, they now have a bunch of free time. So what do they do with that free time? Whatever they want. But generally speaking, this leads to the gradual evolution towards prosociality. What they end up doing is rapidly diversifying which in turn leads to increased sexual selection. Rather than those surviving getting to mate, now its those with the reddest plume or those with the nicest song. This is why humans are the only species with hair, or boobs, and so on. We literally made ourselves that way because we thought it looked cool. And two things naturally follow this. One is the emergence of complex mating strategies and complex social structures. Primates have an incredibly diverse range of social habits and social structures for example. As well as a huge range of calls. As do birds, who've been at this for a lot longer, but are also mass limited by flight, which selects for smaller bodies and brains to maintain flight. That's also why birds have a neuron density 2.5 times greater than primates. The second thing to emerge from this is disease due to living in close proximity. And eventually the evolution of grooming or preening behaviours. Members with longer life spans also gradually take on more social responsibility within the community and eventually get selected for by virtue of their social roles, selecting for longer life spans. Birds and bats evolved flight, and bats have no natural predators on cave ceilings or in the branches of trees. So they're developing prosociality and complex mating habits, but they're still working on evolving preening behavior and disease management. Koalas are in a similar boat, as pretty much the entire population has clamydia. But nothing wants to eat them since their meat is poisonous from all the eucalyptus they eat. They also have 5 vaginas and are weird animals. They're in the diversifying stage. I suspect preening wont come for a long time for them.

[@ktechnology9146]

What I'm getting from this video is that a human-bat hybrid, a "Batman" if you will, would be the peak of mammalian physiology.

[@stephaneclerc667]

First vid from you and I'm already subscribing, good job doc 😉

[@davidmccluskey6908]

You forgot to mention bat Guano, and the benefits humanity has derived from it.

[@ps.2]

"Forgot"? Huh? A video about bat health and longevity does not need to mention every other fact about bats you've ever heard of. I don't know if you watched the same video I did, but the one I watched never said "also here's an exhaustive list of all known ways bats affect humans and human civilization."

[@Alienami]

So... Marvel Comics Morbius movie wasn't just a steaming pile of bad writing? There was valid science in Dr. Morbius' assertion that Bats have inherent super powers that would help him fight his genetically caused illness? 😮