Why do bats eat fruit and eat the whole land?

Any child knows not to eat the green part of a tomato, but to cut it off. The reason behind this is that those green parts contain secondary plant compounds that adversely affect users.

Every night, fruit bats eat a large amount of secondary plant compounds with their food. This is very difficult to understand for female bats that are pregnant or bats whose mother has milk due to secondary plant compounds that can destroy the fetus and small bats. A scientific study first explores how fruit-eating bats deal with this situation.

In a study published online in PLoS ONE, researchers at the Berlin Leibniz Zoo Wildlife Research Institute (IZW), Boston University and Cornell University have obtained evidence that the Fruit bats eat large amounts of clay along with mineral-rich water from a place called mineral licks to detoxify the secondary plant compounds from fruits.

Bats have more than 1200 species, the second largest mammal group of mammals that play an important role in seeding tropical rainforests. Dr. Christian Voigt and his colleagues arrested pregnant bats and bats feeding their babies with milk at the mineral salt lick in the Amazon-Ecuadorian rainforest.

Bats eat fruit.(Photo: animalpicturesarchive)

Voigt expressed his initial point at the beginning of the study: 'At first glance, it seems that bats coming to this place share the same purpose with other animals like tapirs or birds to meet the demand for mineral their daily ' . Mother bats have a high demand for mineral salts, especially because their offspring cannot wean until they are nearly mature.

Dr Voigt said: 'We were surprised to find that fruits are quite rich in minerals compared to insects'. In the ongoing study, the scientists focused on bats that eat both fruit and insects.

Research shows that although insects, not fruits, have low levels of mineral salts that are not enough to provide for the birthing stage of the bat, only the bats that include the main fruit come to the yards. lick mineral salt. Researchers believe that female bats eat more fruit than usual during pregnancy as well as lactation. Therefore, they come in direct contact with the harmful effects of secondary plant compounds.

Female bats seem to be able to compensate for the toxicity of secondary plant compounds by eating clay or drinking mineral-rich water. Local people in Africa and South America are also familiar with the detoxifying properties of mineral-rich clay. They also use it during pregnancy and lactation. Perhaps both humans and bats have found a similar solution to a common problem.

Quotes: Voigt CC, Capps KA, Dechmann DKN, Michener RH, Kunz TH (2008);Nutrition or antidote: why bats come to mineral licks in the Amazon rainforest;PLoS ONE 3 (4): e2011.do: 10.1371 / journal.pone.0002011.