translated from Spanish: Bats and 4 lessons on survival we can learn from these animals

Bats look more like us than it might seem to the naked eye.
“They live a very long life,” Kate Jones, professor of ecology and biodiversity at University College London (UCL), UNITED Kingdom, tells the BBC. “And that’s very unusual for a mammal of its size.”
The academic notes that mammals with similar complexions usually live from one to two years, but bats can live up to 40 years, “which is amazing.”
“They have a very interesting DNA repair mechanism; repair damaged DNA so they don’t get cancer.”
And Gareth Jones, a researcher at the University of Plymouth, to the southwest and England, says they are “very resilient” animals, as they have “a number of adaptations that make them very good at surviving in difficult environments.”
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But what exactly can bats teach us about survival?
Here are four lessons we can learn from the behavior of these strange animals.
1. Use all your senses
“Bats use a variety of different senses,” says Kate Jones.
Contrary to what many people think, she explains, she explains, they are not blind: they use their eyes, but they “see” through a radar system, locating objects so as not to collide in the dark.
Bats are not blind; they have a very special “vision” system.” They also use the sense of smell,” adds Kate Jones. “They have large regions of smell in their brains, which they use when they need to find food.”
Gareth Jones says that “the main meaning used by many bats is echolocation, or sound sense, in human terms.”
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“Although bats have been using these signals for 50 million years, we have only been doing it for 100 years.”
Survival expert James Dyer says human beings “also work many times based on our senses, our instincts.”
“The jungle is probably the best place to have to use our senses consistently because it’s hot, wet and dark, so you feel almost like a bat. When it’s quiet, there may be a predator in the area. It’s very claustrophobic.”
2. Together we are stronger
“Bats often live in large colonies that often contain millions of individuals,” says Gareth Jones.
Bats know that bonding makes strength. One of the largest mammal populations on the planet, Kate adds, is a bat facility in Bracken Cavern near San Antonio in Texas, in the southern United States.
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It is said that it can have up to 20 million bats although, as the scientist clarifies, we do not know the exact number.
“This colonial way of life has several advantages,” Gareth explains.
They usually live in colonies made up of millions of individuals. The biggest one is in Texas.One of them, the specialist points out, is that the bats warm each other. In addition, they reduce “energy costs” by snuggling together.
And another advantage of being in a large group is that it “reduces your individual risk of being devoured by a predator,” he adds.
Dyer adds that the fact that bats live in large communities means that they have to get along with other very different members of the group, which also happens in humans, when we make an expedition.
” (In these expeditions we have to) establish relationships, maintain those relationships, develop systems to live in a community—usually far from ‘normal’ society—a little like bats do. And so we need to develop our own ways of supporting and caring for each other, and working as a team.”
“We also have to use the ‘collective mind’ to be aware of the danger or to be able to do the tasks that have been entrusted to us.”
3. Being generous comes out
But living in such large groups does not make bats individualistic or selfish. Quite the opposite.
Bats are grouped into working pairs and share tasks with each other.” Bats don’t care just about their blood relatives, they also care about other individuals in their community,” Sanjay Joshi, co-founder of SoGive, a company that measures the impact of charities, tells THE BBC.
Kate Jones says these animals are grouped into pairs, so if they can’t find food for one night, they can ask their partner for help, and the next night they’re entitled to it.
“It’s called reciprocal altruism,” Jones explains, and the bat case is “one of the few examples where this occurs in mammals around the world.”
4. Stay clean
Bats are often covered by large numbers of parasites, Gareth explains. And they usually get rid of them when they’re ate and groomed.
They are very clean and social animals.” Don’t just love themselves; but they often do a thing called social grooming, by which they groom each other, creating social bonds between individuals in the colonies,” says the academic.
James Dyer says that bats “are well known for their high levels of personal hygiene: wet and dark parts have to be cleaned regularly… just as we have to be, especially when we surround ourselves with other people.”
“It can ruin relationships—especially if you share a tent (as can happen in survival situations)—and your ability to continue the expedition.”
This note is an adaptation of a chapter of the BBC Ideas series “What Animals Can teach us” (Lor that animals can teach us.)

Original source in Spanish

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