#hammerheaded bat

[craftingcreatures]

Alright, so I was thinking about Hammerheaded Bats (Hypsignathus monstrosa), as one does, and I just... have questions.

Obviously these things are absolutely ludicrous. The deranged-looking eyes, the goblin-esque ears, the lips that look like they got slammed in a car door a few too many times. And, of course, the gloriously fearsome schnozz. As far as creatures go this is one of the creaturey-est. 10/10. Brilliant design.

It gets better, as biology usually does. These bats are large, with a wingspan of almost a meter. Males and females display some rather extreme sexual dimorphism - the males are twice as heavy as the females, and it is only they which possess the extravagant nasal anatomy. That nose is an amplifying chamber, allowing the males to honk at their lady loves with a noise rather like a duck's quack played over a squeaky fence gate. Hammerheaded bats are the only bat species known to mate in a lekking system, in which the males all come together in one place to compete for the females' affections against each other. The males with the loudest, most obnoxious honks are the most desirable to the females.

Hammerheaded bats are one of a very few mammals known to have an XO sex determination system (For reference, humans have an XY system). This means that female bats, like humans, have two X chromosomes, but males do not have a Y-chromosome; instead, they have one X chromosome and that's it. This kind of chromosomal sex-determination is more often seen in insects like grasshoppers.

All of this is good. I love me some weird animals, and Hammerhead bats are no slouches when it comes to weirdness. But, fellas, we've only just scratched the surface when it comes to the weirdness of bat. And I do mean the surface, because the real weirdness is inside.

...

OK so there's a lot to unpack here.

First off, the larynx. It's obscenely large, three times larger in males than in females. It's half the length of the entire spinal column. It's so big that it smooshes all of the internal organs - you know, important things like the heart and lungs - all the way down into the lower abdomen. AND it's connected to air sacs in the throat that amplify the honks even further.

Like. I know why these bats are like this. I know why their honk-producing apparatus is so over-engineered and dominant that there's barely any room for anything else. Biology will do crazy things in pursuit of reproductive success. But like... they still have to live. These are bats. They're endothermic and they fly. Their oxygen consumption is through the roof. HOW do they get away with squishing their heart and lungs that much?! Is there some kind of pocket dimension where the rest of their lungs are stored?! Sir, how do you breathe?!

In conclusion, Hammerhead bats break my brain and I want to know everything about them. I love living on this planet - there's so much bonkers stuff to learn.

Info from https://caitlynfinton.com/2022/05/06/meet-the-hammer-headed-bat/

[loveisinthebat]

Criminal Side Eye

[chimeride]

[art-newt]

drawtober 2024 vampire

[thegreatyin]

is this guy iron. i ask because its head is an anvil.

nope! the naked bulldog bat is stones!

it's a very large and very scrunkly creature that also doubles as the largest and heaviest microbat in the world. feels fitting for a master that's constantly covered in jewelry (thus being very heavy) (and also it just. has the Vibes. i can just picture this thing covered in diamonds, y'know?)

iron doesn't have a set bat species lookalike atm, but based on other's interpretations, i'm leaning towards a sword nosed bat. because. because look at it.

it's a bat. its nose is a sword. there is no other explanation i could give.

[jaketeachesdeath]

The Hammerhead Fruit Bat, an impressive species without a doubt. The sexual diamorphism is incredibly noticeable too.

We spoke last time about how they are considered pest species and that honking is often the cause of that. With the decibel range and consistency of the honks its gotta get a little aggravating however, the males form what is a called a lek, a sort of group breeding display if you will. This behaviour is largely seen in birds interestingly enough.

Now because the males focus on honking so much the way they evolved is rather odd. Another name for them is the Big Lipped Bat thats due to the males facial set up for intense audio. Whilst that acoustic set up works fantastically its the internal organs we turn our attention to next.

The males internal organs seem rather displaced in comparison to the female, thats because their long larynx takes up like half of the body cavity to generate that honking display. How else could they create an impressive honk off at dusk to impress the ladies!

02/03/24

[zedortoo]

I'm about to get so autistic over his silly vampire outfit y'all are NOT ready

[roninkairi]

Yup, me.

[cartoonscientist]

[the-terrible-theys]

found a tier list thing for ranking all the wks creature power suit designs and figured it’d be fun :)

tier list maker is linked here if you’re curious

anyway here’s mine!

edit: i keep getting notifs for this so i wanted to add that the tiermaker was done by @/galmiahthepigeon !

[loveisinthebat]

Maximized Honk Device

[weirdanimal-tournament]

Round 3 Match 16

Glass Frog: "you can see its heart through its skin!"

Hammerhead Bat: "One of the only bat species who use lekking! The big nose is only there on males because they use it to do biiig loud calls, with the big nose acting as an echo chamber to amplify the sound!"

[mineral-vulture]

Attack to @silenthillcoffeebeans featuring Dreamland!

[pleistocene-pride]

Hypsignathus monstrosus better known as the hammer headed bat, horse head bat, hammer head fruit bat, big lipped bat, or hammerhead bat, is a species of megabat widely distributed in West and Central Africa, and is the only member of its genus Hypsignathus. They are a lowland species which tends to inhabit rainforests, swamps, & riverine woodlands. They are a nocturnal species which spends its days roosting in trees in groups of 4 to 25 individuals, before taking flight at sunset to search for food in the form of fruits like figs, bananas, mangos, guavas, and berries. Hammer head bats are themselves eaten by large snakes and birds of prey such as the long tailed hawk. Reaching some 7.5 to 14 inches (19 to 36cms) in body length, .5 to 1lb (230 to 450g) in weight, with a 27.2 to 38.2in (69 to 97cm) wingspan, with males being twice as heavy as females, the hammerhead bat is the largest species of bat native to continental Africa. Males and females also greatly differ in appearance, making it the most sexually dimorphic bat species. Males sport numerous adaptations to produce and amplify vocalizations such as there giant larynges and multiple large facial resonating chambers. Resulting in males having much more boxy heads, whilst females have narrower snouts and more foxlike faces. Both adult male and female bats have dark brown fur that is paler on the sides and back of the neck. The ears are triangular, and the black-brown eyes are very large. Hammerhead bats mate twice a year during the dry seasons, and are believed to be the only bat species which have a lek mating system, wherein males gather on a "lek", where they perform loud, honking vocalizations to attract females. Females visit the lek and select a male to mate with, after a 6 month pregnancy a mother hammer head bat will give birth to 1 -2 young. Under ideal conditions a female hammerhead bat will reach sexual maturity at around 9 months of age, and males at 18 months, both sexes may live up to 30 years.

[scuro-sideblog]

I didn't know where else to post this new fursona, so I'll put her right here. This is Herald the Hammer-Headed Bat (She/They). She's a spunky character with a love of mangoes and a hatred of the negative stigma surrounding bats (just like her creator in real life).

[kikimanic]

Normal front view and a silly one