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Microchiroptera Life History

  • Living reference work entry
  • First Online:
Encyclopedia of Animal Cognition and Behavior

Synonyms

Bats; Yinpterochiroptera; Yangochiroptera; Life cycle

Definition

Life history refers to the life cycle of an organism (how they are born, grow, reproduce, and die) and aspects that maximize their chance of survival and reproduction, including morphological, physiological, and ecological traits.

Introduction

Bats are mammals that belong to the order Chiroptera, which is the second most speciose group within the class Mammalia, only outnumbered by rodents. Bats can be found in nearly every part of the world inhabiting forests, savannas, tundras, mountains, deserts, urban and rural areas in temperate, subtropical and tropical latitudes, with the exception of polar regions and some oceanic islands (Vaughan et al. 2015). Bats are undoubtedly the most diverse group of mammals when it comes to feeding habits; their diet includes insects, other arthropods such as scorpions, spiders and centipedes, fruits, nectar, small vertebrates (e.g., fish, frogs, lizards, birds, and small...

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Mammal Evolution, Department of Zoology, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Brazil

    Fred Victor de Oliveira

Authors
  1. Fred Victor de Oliveira
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Oakland University, Rochester, MI, USA

    Jennifer Vonk

  2. Department of Psychology, Oakland University Department of Psychology, Rochester, MI, USA

    Todd Shackelford

Section Editor information

  1. Zoo Atlanta, Atlanta, GA, USA

    Marieke Cassia Gartner

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de Oliveira, F.V. (2020). Microchiroptera Life History. In: Vonk, J., Shackelford, T. (eds) Encyclopedia of Animal Cognition and Behavior. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-47829-6_1158-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-47829-6_1158-1

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  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-47829-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-47829-6

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