why are bats afraid of water?

Bats are very afraid of water and reluctant to fly when it rains. By accurate measurements scientists have explained this phenomenon.

According to LiveScience , scientists learned why bats are so afraid of water and never dare to fly when it rains. They calculated that if the bat feathers get wet, when they fly, they must consume twice as much energy when the coat is dry.

When flying in rain, the bat must consume 20 times more energy when resting.

If you fly normally, bats must consume 10 times more energy when you take a break when flying in the rain, this number will increase 20 times.

These conclusions come from a new study that biologists conducted in a population of wild bats living in Puerto Rico. They caught bats, locked in iron cages and to measure their activity indicators, they sprayed rain water. But they also used cameras to record the flight of bats in the real rain to compare with their experiments.

According to the authors of the study, the bat species must 'consume a greater energy when wet hair is because they have to mobilize reserve energy to enhance blood circulation and burn fat. Store to heat body to dry hair. The wet coat does not match the rules of aerodynamics, unlike the dry fur. But the volume of water on the coat, slightly increasing their weight, has no effect.