If bats have wing membranes that have a layer of fur, can they still fly?

[ttyo888]

If bats have wing membranes that have a layer of fur, can they still fly?

 

I am trying to design a creature that is based on Bats, but however the creature lives in a pretty cold place. So I need to know whether fur will cause its wing membranes to become too heavy.

[John Cuthber]

There's not much difference between feathers and fur in terms of density.

[Mokele]

I doubt the fur's weight will be a problem, but it may pose serious aerodynamic challenges - bat flight relies upon having a flexible, adjustable membrane that can be dynamically adjusted.

[ttyo888]

maybe the fur is stiff like a bird's feather and it only points in the direction where air flows over the wing?

[Glider]

maybe the fur is stiff like a bird's feather and it only points in the direction where air flows over the wing?

Yes, short, stiff and hollow (for insulation).

 

There is a very small deer deer that has hair exactly like that. In its environment, the temps vary between 30 degrees C during the day, to below zero C at night. Its hair is quite short, but each hair is hollow. To lose heat during the day, the hair stands on end allowing air curculation over the skin, but at night the hair lays flat and the hollow tubes of the hairs form a trapped layer of air like a blanket.

[ttyo888]

but is it possible to have hair that is flat, long and stiff? So it might function like a feather like here? Mine will be not so feathery

 

 

anyway it will only be on the upper part of the membrane.

[Glider]

Yes. Hedgehog spines and Porcupine quills are essentially hollow hairs stiffened with keratin. Even rhino horn is made out of hair, so it can appear in many forms.

[ttyo888]

but hollow but flat... isn't that a bit weird or is it plausible since hair can be cylinder shaped and flat.

[Glider]

Feathers, including penguin feathers and peacock tails, are only modified scales, and a hair that's hollow but flat is weird and implausible?

 

One of the wonderful things about nature is that it's really hard to outweird it. Any bizarre thing you can think of has probably already been done by nature.

 

Hair is essentially keratin. You want hollow hair? Look at deer, karibiou, polar bear. You want hard pointy hair? Look at rhinoceros, you want flat and hard? Look at pangolin scales. You want hard, hollow and pointy? Look at everything from echidna, hedgehog and porcupine quills to bison and bufflao horn. It's all the same stuff.

 

Hollow and flat is a relatively minor adjustment to any of these forms that would probably happen eventually anyway if it provided an advantage to the animal.

Edited May 22, 2009 by Glider

[ttyo888]

Thank you here's my final design of sorts

[Glider]

That looks good.

 

I just had an idea. You might want to look at the structure of baleen (also keratin). Baleen plates are very similar in overalll structure to feathers (but huge, being in whale mouths). A smaller version might be exactly what you're looking for.

 

Here's a link to the wiki page on baleen.