The Bat's Ability to Convert Energy into Muscle Power is Affected by Flight Speed
Published:30 May2023 Source:Lund University
Small bats are bad at converting energy into muscle power. Surprisingly, a new study led by Lund University reveals that this ability increases the faster they fly.
The researchers have studied the efficiency of migratory bats -- a species that weighs about eight grams and is found in almost all of Europe. Efficiency, in this case, is the ability to convert supplied energy into something we need. For bats and birds, it's the energy required to fly. In a new study published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B, a research team in Lund states that the efficiency varies with the bats' flight speed. The faster the bats flew, the more energy they managed to convert into muscle power.
Anders Hedenström said that they have previously analyzed the blackcap, a bird which also migrates. The bird's efficiency was 20 percent compared to the bat's ten percent. This means that of all the energy the bat consumes, only ten percent is useful, while it's 20 percent for the blackcap. The bat thus uses the energy less efficiently. The difference may be because birds only have two flight muscles, while bats have about 15 muscles for the same job.