Rarely seen creatures of Africa - The Short-eared trident bat

With an impressive 1 240 breeds of bats worldwide they make up to 20% of all classified mammal species around the globe. 

Short-eared trident bat. 

In South Africa alone there are 56 different kinds of bats found. Bats break up into two distinctive groups, fruits bats and insect bats, with insect bats being higher in numbers of species.

Bats are small, shy mammals that take to the skies under the cover of the night in search of food. They are gentle wild animals with fur and forelimbs that form webbed wings.

These unique animals are not blind despite the myth surrounding them. They can all see with their small, black eyes and some even see extremely well.

The short-eared trident bat, also known as a Percival trident bat, is 7 cm in length with a wingspan reaching 15 cm and weighing a mere 5 grams. These small bats have a 3 prolonged trident nose between their beady eyes and small roundish ears sometimes hidden by long fur. Their faces are a whitish-yellow colour with a white to pale yellow underneath and wings dark in colour.

Lesser horseshoe bats roosting. 

Habitat

Bats live in groups together called colonies. They roost in tight clusters hanging from the ceiling of caves or mine shafts. These winged animals live together ranging in small numbers to numbers in the hundreds.

Short-eared trident bats are found in the North east of vibrant South Africa in the provinces of North West, Gauteng and Mmpulanga. They are also found elsewhere in Zaire, Kenya, Botswana and other southern and central African countries.

Behaviour

They are very clean animals, grooming themselves thoroughly when not eating, sleeping or

attending to pups.  

Diet

Short-eared trident bats fall into the group of insect eating bats. Some bats can eat up to 600 bugs in just one hour!

A bat in flight. 

Bats have excellent hearing and use sonar calls referred to as echolocation. The short-eared trident bat uses their sonar calls to locate their bug meals and have the highest recorded echolocation frequency of all bats at 210 kHz. An average human hears a frequency of up to 20 kHz.

Reproduction

Female bats give birth to live bat babies called pups usually once a year. Pups are born pink and hairless with tiny wings. Mothers take care of their pups feeding them milk, teaching them skills to survive and giving them rides on their backs while in flight. Baby bats start learning to fly from 3 weeks of age and by 6 weeks old are able to take flight searching for food like the adult bats.

Short-eared trident bat.

Mother bats arrange a maternity colony together, finding a safe cave or mine shaft, where they can safely care for their pups. The mother will remember exactly where she left her pup amongst all the other bat babies.

Did you know?

Bats have been known to live up to 40 years.

Get informative about Multiple Sclerosis

Multiple Sclerosis ribbon design.

About Multiple Sclerosis

Multiple Sclerosis as an unpredictable and complex condition that affects many people throughout the world. It has an effect on the central nervous system causing the brain to struggle with communication with ones' body. There is no cure as of yet! However research is being undertaken and results are being found.

There are 2.3 million people worldwide having being diagnosed with this disease, most are given the diagnosis between the ages of 20-40. Women have double the chance of being diagnosed with MS than men, possibly due to women being more likely of having a gene associated with the disease. 

The coating around the nerve fibres, called myelin, are damaged when someone has Multiple Sclerosis causing a variety of symptoms. MS is referred to as an autoimmune disease as the body is attacking itself. Treatment and specialized doctors can help people suffering with MS to manage the disease and its accompanying symptoms.

Myelin is damaged when someone has Multiple Sclerosis. 

A relapse lasts more than 24 hours and happens at least 30 days after a previous relapse. A relapse is unique in its severity, length and the symptoms that is comes with. Depending on the type of MS there could also be a period of recovery where no new symptoms show up and the person with MS will feel better.

Symptoms

MS symptoms are a different and unique experience for everyone, the symptoms may appear and vanish or steadily get worse with time. The way that MS impacts a sufferer depends on what part of the brain or spinal cord is being damaged from the disease. There are three stages of symptoms when having Multiple Sclerosis.

Primary – due to the diseases itself. Symptoms include:

·        Extreme fatigue – feeling of being exhausted.

·        Numbness and tingling – pins and needles feeling, strange sensations on face or body.

·        Visual disturbances – blurry eyesight, double vision, pain when moving eyes.

·        Impaired balance and coordination – loss of balance, light-headed, weakness in legs.

·        Difficulty speaking – slurring, scanning speech.

·        Emotional problems – mood swings, depression.

·        Cognitive problems – attention span and memory is affected, learning difficulty.  

·        Tremor – trembling or shaking movement that can’t be controlled.

·        Bladder problems – urinary urgency, incontinence.

Secondary – complications of primary symptoms.

Tertiary symptoms – the effects of having Multiple Sclerosis, such as social, psychological, work related aspects that are affecting ones' day to day life.  

Types of MS

Relapsing-remitting MS – The most common of the types of MS consisting of recurring attacks (relapses) of symptoms followed by recovery phases. This type might lead to Secondary-progressive MS after about 10 years of having RMMS.

Secondary-progressive MS – The second phase for some sufferers of Relapsing-remitting MS. This is a progressive phase; the relapses stop and the disease progressively gets worse.

Primary-progressive MS – There are no relapses or recovery periods, the disease only progressively gets worse. This type of MS is often diagnosed later on in life of MS sufferers.

Progressive-relapsing MS – The least common of the MS types. There will be attacks with which the sufferer might recovery slightly or not and the disease will get worse between relapses.

Treatment options to help alleviate symptoms

Exercising

Healthy diet

Physiotherapy

Alternative therapies

Medication

Ways of coping with MS

Join a MS support group

Talk to family members and friends

Pick up new hobbies

MS terms

Autoimmune disease – The body’s immune system attacks healthy cells, organs and tissues causing illness. An understanding of why is not yet well known.

Central Nervous System (CNS) – A term for the main part of the nervous system; the brain and spinal cord.

Cranial nerves – There are twelve pairs of nerves in the brain that carry sensory, motor and parasympathetic fibres to the face and neck.

Demyelination – The myelin sheath which surrounds the nerve fibres within a person’s central nervous system are destroyed. When this occurs there is an interruption in communication between nerves.

Interferon –A family of three groups of proteins that help fight viral infection or other biological inducers; alpha, beta and gamma.

Lhermitte’s sign – The sensation of an electric shock or ‘pins and needles’ going down the spine into the arms and legs, when the neck is bent forward.

Myelin – They are soft, white coated lipids and proteins that surround the nerve fibres in the central nervous system, speeding up the electric signals that are sent via the nerve fibres.

Neuritis – When the nerves are inflamed and cause nerve damage and is usually part of a degenerative disease.

Sclerosis – A condition where the tissue becomes hard due to fibrous tissue growing.

Multiple sclerosis – When there is a collection of fibrous tissue also known as scars in the brain. The brain struggles to communicate with the body as there is damage done to nerve fibres in the central nervous system.

National Multiple Sclerosis, an American website, offers a wide range of information on MS, such as living with the disease, symptoms, diagnosis and so much more. 

http://www.nationalmssociety.org/What-is-MS

Read about Claudia, an MS warrior's personal journey with having Multiple Sclerosis. 

http://epicenabled.blogspot.com/2015/03/claudia-ms-warrior-part-1.html