Comments on: Tiny wing hairs allow bats to pull off hair-raising manoeuvres

By: Emmy

Emmy — Sat, 25 Jun 2011 01:27:05 +0000

Awww! Bats are so cute

Sorry.

I wonder if this can in any way inform the research on why bats are killed by wind turbines.

By: Andrew Wilson

Andrew Wilson — Tue, 21 Jun 2011 08:46:15 +0000

@Luna – they may not be specially connected, but the principle of using a hair to detect motion in the air is pretty straight-forward, so it’s not a stretch for the same basic function to arise from different sets of hair.

This is very cool, though – what a perfect way to perceive information about airflow. Fast, intrinsically structured by the layout of the hairs, I love it.

By: Avreaux

Avreaux — Tue, 21 Jun 2011 08:32:37 +0000

Any chance these tiny hairs are small enough and sensitive enough to resonate with sound waves in the bats’ echolocation frequency range?

By: Renee Zenaida

Renee Zenaida — Mon, 20 Jun 2011 23:05:04 +0000

Very interesting…I’d share it if there wasn’t a terrible typo in the headline…”pull off”…not “pull of.”

[Fixed. -E]

By: Luna_the_cat

Luna_the_cat — Mon, 20 Jun 2011 22:37:37 +0000

That’s good to know; I’m duly reassured on the bats’ behalf. Thanks.

So…how does body-fuzz relate to inner-ear hair, I now wonder. Totally going to have to go look that up if I can.

By: Ed Yong

Ed Yong — Mon, 20 Jun 2011 21:35:16 +0000

The poster I linked to (“jerkier than normal”) says that the hairs do grow back.
And I left this bit out because it didn’t really fit anywhere, but they reckon the hairs are modified vellus hairs – the “peach fuzz” you get all over your body.

By: Luna_the_cat

Luna_the_cat — Mon, 20 Jun 2011 21:26:12 +0000

1. That is SO cool.
2. Those poor little shaved-wing bats. Hopefully the hairs grow back ok…
3. Wonder if how those wing hairs became air-sensors is in any way similar to how inner-ear hair became part of our hearing?