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Speedy bat flies at 160km/h, smashing bird speed record
https://www.newscientist.com/article/2112044-speedy-bat-flies-at-160kmh-smashing-bird-speed-record/
"These are the fastest powered flight speeds documented yet in any vertebrate that is, in bats or birds," says Gary McCracken of the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. "We didn't expect these results, even though the Brazilian free-tailed bats are known for their exceptional fast flight."
Previous studies suggested that birds fly faster than bats, but birds have received much more attention, McCracken says. The fastest bird on record for level flight is the common swift (Apus apus), which reaches around 112 km/h.
McCracken's team now claims bats have beaten that record. The team used an airplane tracking device on seven bats from the Frio Bat Cave in south-western Texas to track ground distance covered by bats. They found that all bats achieved speeds of almost 100km/h, with one bat logging a top speed of 160 km/h.
"Most of the time, these animals are moving at moderate speeds, but what we see here is that they exceed these expectations and quite dramatically for brief periods of time," McCracken says.
Supercharged swifts take flight speed record
http://news.bbc.co.uk/earth/hi/earth_news/newsid_8539000/8539383.stm
A relative of the common swift, the white-throated needletail, also known as the needle-tailed swift or spine-tailed swift (Hirundapus caudacutus) is commonly reported as the fastest bird in level flight.
It is reported to reach a top speed of 169km/h (47m/s; 105mph).
But the record is difficult to verify as the methods used to measure the bird's speed have never been published, says avian flight specialist Dr Per Henningsson of Lund University in Sweden.
Confirmation of the new record came as Dr Henningsson and Lund University colleagues Dr Christoffer Johansson and Professor Anders Hedenstrom filmed common swifts using two high speed cameras.
I wonder about echolocation at such speeds (44m/s). A bit like having lag? Some swiftlets use echolocation too.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 10 2016, @06:04PM
Seems bats can't spot or escape airborne predators as well as birds can: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/269909816_Why_do_Insectivorous_Bats_in_Britain_Not_Fly_in_Daylight_More_Frequently [researchgate.net]
(Score: 2) by frojack on Thursday November 10 2016, @08:15PM
Paper seems sort of focused on the predation upon bats and not the bat's prey.
Prey (bugs) are probably slower in cooler night time temperatures. The bat's Endothermic advantage is amplified. It takes more power to fly in warm temperatures as anyone trying to climb a Cessna off a Texas runway in the afternoon can tell you.
Aerobatic turns can also be accomplished more quickly and precisely in denser air. That helps both bug and bat, but perhaps the bat more than the bug.
Even in the absence of any predators, bats (and probably any other echo-locating flyers) might choose to hunt at night just due to the success rate alone.
(Seems like echolocation and night feeding go hand in hand (wing in wing?) in birds and bats. One wonders which came first.)
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 2) by t-3 on Friday November 11 2016, @03:02AM
Bats' main prey, mosquitos, don't try to outfly them, they drop to ground when they hear bats.
(Score: 2) by frojack on Saturday November 12 2016, @03:12AM
A mosquito with folded wings in a full dive can't possibly fall fast enough to avoid a bat. Bats are dying from a fungus but not from starvation.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 2) by t-3 on Saturday November 12 2016, @03:28AM
Oh I know - they don't all get away, but dropping to the ground is the only way to avoid total extermination. No bug can outfly a bat.