Bats - Crete Nature Blog - are bats most closely related to..?

1 0 Friday, July 21, 2017 Edit this post

" We were getting a bit batty a couple of weeks ago but are bats most closely related to;

a) whales
b) shrews
c) mice

Bats, whales shrews, mice and ourselves for that matter are all placental mammals with a common ancestor from about 80-100 million years ago. From this ancestor two separate branches evolved; one containing ourselves and other primates along with rabbits and rodents (which includes the mice) and one containing the bats and a host of other mammals too numerous to mention. So we and the mice waved goodbye to the bats and the next group to go their own way included the hedgehogs, shrews and moles. Surprisingly then, bats are more closely related to whales than they are to either shrews or mice. Who'd have thought it? " - Steve's Nature Quiz #14