Reveal the bat's secret of flying

It's interesting, but bats use aerodynamic mechanisms like insects to hover in the air, scientists said.

Writing in Science magazine, the Swedish and US researchers said the creature flapped its wings downwards, creating a tiny gas vortex, also known as "the edge of the wing". It is this cyclone that generates enough lift to help it stay in the air while hovering or flying slowly.

This trick was previously encountered in insects, but no one has seen larger and heavier organisms applied.

In the experiment, the team placed a series of food dishes that were bile water into a wind channel, and used high-speed, laser and fog cameras to study bat flight.

When they follow the distribution of the fog particles, they deduce that the cyclones on the wing edge produce 40% of the lift force that helps the bat stay in the air.

This animal often uses the toes hidden in the flimsy skin of the wing to change the wing's curvature, and creates the necessary lift for hovering. Winged insects are thicker than bats and cannot control movement in the same way. But they can also create whirlwinds at the edges of wings because they flap their wings very quickly.

This discovery could be used to improve the design of small planes used in reconnaissance.