Reply
Honored Contributor
Posts: 33,951
Registered: ‎03-10-2010

Re: Guess what baby bats are called?

Here's the article:

 

Infant bats babble, just like human babies, study finds

Baby bats babble just like human infants when learning to communicate, a new study has found.

 

300 Orphaned Baby Bats in Australia | PEOPLE.com

 

Scientists from the Museum of Natural History in Berlin eavesdropped on 20 baby bats — called pups — and found that, just like humans, they practice making noises before learning how to talk to others.

 

The greater sac-winged (Saccopteryx bilineata) bat pups were observed in their natural habitats in Panama and Costa Rica.

 

Baby Bat Burrito uploaded by Beℛabbit on We Heart It

 

Researchers took daily audio and video recordings of the pups, tracking them from birth until weaning.

 

Didn't know we'd love baby bats so much, but hey | HelloGiggles

 

They found the male and female pups babbled daily for around seven weeks, with the “babbling bouts” of “long multisyllabic vocal sequences” lasting up to 43 minutes at a time.

 

Human babies, the study authors said, babble to gain control over their tongue, lips and jaw and their vocal system.

 

Rarely seen behavior

 

But babbling, or vocal imitation, they added, “is rare in the animal kingdom” and up to now had only been observed in songbirds — though only male songbirds engage in this behavior.

 

This is the first time another mammal has been documented as using vocal practice behavior, they said, with both male and female bats engaging in babbling.

 

joshua on Twitter: "if yr feelin sad just look at these baby bat burritos… "

 

The researchers took the recordings back to Germany to study them.

They found interesting parallels between the characteristics of bat babbling and human babbling.

 

690 All bats go to HeaVen ideas | baby bats, cute bat, all bat

 

“For example, pup babbling is characterized by reduplication of syllables, similar to the characteristic syllable repetition — (such as) ‘dadada’ — in human infant babbling,” said study co-author Lara Burchardt.

 

Baby Bat Burritos - Album on Imgur

 

The researchers said they hoped the findings would lead to more investigation into speech development in the human and animal kingdom and, ultimately, the evolutionary origin of human language.

 

The study was published in the journal Science on Thursday.

~My philosophy: Dogs are God's most perfect creatures. Angels, here on Earth, who teach us to be better human beings.~
Honored Contributor
Posts: 14,660
Registered: ‎03-09-2010

Re: Guess what baby bats are called?

Oh my gosh!😍!

Are they cute or what?!🥰

"If you walk the footsteps of a stranger, you'll learn things you never knew. Can you sing with all the voices of the mountains? can you paint with all the colors of the wind?"
Honored Contributor
Posts: 33,951
Registered: ‎03-10-2010

Re: Guess what baby bats are called?

I present to you: the echidna puggle. One of those things that's adorably  ugly. And floppy. : aww

 

A baby platypus is called a puggle and I'm sure it's not because it rhymes  with snuggle!: aww

 

A baby echidna and a baby platypus?  Puggle.

~My philosophy: Dogs are God's most perfect creatures. Angels, here on Earth, who teach us to be better human beings.~