一些蝙蝠會在細(xì)雨中飛行,，然而一旦遇到暴雨,，它們便會找地方躲起來,。
在5月3日的《生物學(xué)快報》網(wǎng)絡(luò)版上刊登的一項新的研究給出了一個答案：當(dāng)蝙蝠的皮毛和翅膀被打濕后，它們不得不更加賣力地飛行,。
在哥斯達(dá)黎加進行的一連串試驗中,，科學(xué)家對在一個八角形大籠子中飛行的索維爾短尾果幅進行了研究。
有時他們會用自來水把蝙蝠弄濕,；有時蝙蝠會被雨水打濕,。研究小組發(fā)現(xiàn)，與外表干燥時相比,，蝙蝠被打濕后使用的能量是前者的兩倍,。
在雨中飛行并沒有什么區(qū)別,，這排除了因雨點擊打翅膀，或水的實際重量而產(chǎn)生的一些力學(xué)問題,。
科學(xué)家認(rèn)為,，就像大多數(shù)潮濕的哺乳動物那樣，潮濕的蝙蝠會很冷,，因此它們不得不努力保持體溫,。并且隨著雨水弄亂它們的皮毛、打濕它們的翅膀,，渾身濕透的蝙蝠可能也無法運用空氣動力。（生物谷Bioon.com）
生物谷推薦原文出處：
Biology Letters DOI： 10.1098/rsbl.2011.0313
Rain increases the energy cost of bat flight
Voigt, Christian C.; Schneeberger, Karin; Voigt-Heucke, Silke L.; Lewanzik, Daniel
Similar to insects, birds and pterosaurs, bats have evolved powered flight. But in contrast to other flying taxa, only batsare furry. Here, we asked whether flight is impaired when bat pelage and wing membranes get wet. We studied the metabolismof short flights in Carollia sowelli, a bat that is exposed to heavy and frequent rainfall in neotropical rainforests. We expected bats to encounter higher thermoregulatorycosts, or to suffer from lowered aerodynamic properties when pelage and wing membranes catch moisture. Therefore, we predictedthat wet bats face higher flight costs than dry ones. We quantified the flight metabolism in three treatments: dry bats, wetbats and no rain, wet bats and rain. Dry bats showed metabolic rates predicted by allometry. However, flight metabolism increasedtwofold when bats were wet, or when they were additionally exposed to rain. We conclude that bats may not avoid rain onlybecause of sensory constraints imposed by raindrops on echolocation, but also because of energetic constraints.
