Category: Mammals
The Indian elephant is one of three subspecies of the Asian elephant and are native to India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Myanmar, Thailand, Malay Peninsular, Laos, China, Cambodia, and Vietnam. They can inhabit a variety of grassland and forest ecosystems. These “mega-herbivores” are able to ingest over 300 pounds of plant material a day! Poaching and habitat destruction pose major threats to wild populations and they are classified as endangered.
Bats: The Only True-Flying Mammal
Bats, the only mammal capable of true flight, are not blind - their eyes are just fine, thank you very much. But instead of eyes, most bats rely on an incredibly fine-tuned sense of hearing when they fly and hunt. Using a technique called echolocation, they emit high-pitched calls (usually above the range of human hearing), using the echos that are reflected back to them as a means of navigation and locating objects. The ears, auditory cortex, and (in a few cases) even noses of some bats are extraordinarily specialized for echolocation; there are even bats that have adapted the frequency of their calls to frequencies above or below what their favorite prey can hear!
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Discover Animals is a web-based educational resource offered by the NAIA
