Bats can gorge on sweets guilt free

Nectar-feeding bats burn sugar faster than top-class athletes, making them the fastest sugar-metabolizing mammals on Earth, according to a new study.

Within minutes of stopping for a flower-power drink, these tiny mammals — typically found in South and Central America — start to metabolize the nectar.

“To keep airborne is the most costly activity,” said study co-author Christian Voigt of the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research in Germany. “It is a dilemma they have to fly to forage for nectar, and they spend most of the energy from nectar with flying.”

The study was published online today in the journal Functional Ecology.

Voigt and study co-author John Speakman of the University of Aberdeen in the United Kingdom fed a dozen captive bats sugar with carbon-13 and measured how much carbon-13 the bats exhaled. Carbon-13 is a non-radioactive isotope of carbon that allowed researchers track the sugar.

“We found that nectar-feeding bats made use of the sugar they were drinking for their metabolism within minutes after drinking it,” the authors said. “After less than half an hour they were fueling 100 percent of their metabolism from this source.”

For Subscribers

FOR SUBSCRIBERSCBP leaders cut out of Trump ad buy decision

FOR SUBSCRIBERSAmerican passenger drafted goodbye texts to her family as Flydubai plane plummeted

FOR SUBSCRIBERSCornell rape allegation pushes embattled New York prosecutor into national spotlight

FOR SUBSCRIBERSAbdul El-Sayed tries to woo MAHA voters as Democrats seek inroads with RFK’s supporters

FOR SUBSCRIBERSKratom-like substances are popping up in a typically benign supplement

FOR SUBSCRIBERSGOP super PAC increases its spending for Sen. Jon Husted in tough Ohio race

FOR SUBSCRIBERSRecords reveal tumultuous marriage between slain New York Times executive and wife

FOR SUBSCRIBERSFrom clean energy warrior to ‘wall of shame,’ James Talarico reverses on a fossil fuel money pledge

FOR SUBSCRIBERSCongressional staff planned official trip with luxury stops in Italy and France weeks before election

FOR SUBSCRIBERSA harrowing ordeal aboard an Israel-bound plane

FOR SUBSCRIBERSOpenAI CEO Sam Altman to skip congressional hearing on rogue AI agents

FOR SUBSCRIBERSKey DOJ lawyers departed Trump ‘grand conspiracy’ probe amid pressure to produce, source says

FOR SUBSCRIBERSTrump’s new AI chatbot often links to a site launched under Clinton 26 years ago

FOR SUBSCRIBERSAt MAHA summit, industry CEOs the movement once vilified take the stage

FOR SUBSCRIBERSThis Paralympian has two goals: Win medals and give away $500,000 to her teammates

Nectar-feeding bats rely on the small amounts of flower nectar — containing simple sugars such as sucrose and glucose — available to get around. These sugars are quickly metabolized, giving bats a sudden burst of energy needed for them to hover like hummingbirds, a type of flight that requires abundant energy.

For Subscribers

FOR SUBSCRIBERSCBP leaders cut out of Trump ad buy decision

FOR SUBSCRIBERSAmerican passenger drafted goodbye texts to her family as Flydubai plane plummeted

FOR SUBSCRIBERSCornell rape allegation pushes embattled New York prosecutor into national spotlight

FOR SUBSCRIBERSAbdul El-Sayed tries to woo MAHA voters as Democrats seek inroads with RFK’s supporters

FOR SUBSCRIBERSKratom-like substances are popping up in a typically benign supplement

FOR SUBSCRIBERSGOP super PAC increases its spending for Sen. Jon Husted in tough Ohio race

FOR SUBSCRIBERSRecords reveal tumultuous marriage between slain New York Times executive and wife

FOR SUBSCRIBERSFrom clean energy warrior to ‘wall of shame,’ James Talarico reverses on a fossil fuel money pledge

FOR SUBSCRIBERSCongressional staff planned official trip with luxury stops in Italy and France weeks before election

FOR SUBSCRIBERSA harrowing ordeal aboard an Israel-bound plane

FOR SUBSCRIBERSOpenAI CEO Sam Altman to skip congressional hearing on rogue AI agents

FOR SUBSCRIBERSKey DOJ lawyers departed Trump ‘grand conspiracy’ probe amid pressure to produce, source says

FOR SUBSCRIBERSTrump’s new AI chatbot often links to a site launched under Clinton 26 years ago

FOR SUBSCRIBERSAt MAHA summit, industry CEOs the movement once vilified take the stage

FOR SUBSCRIBERSThis Paralympian has two goals: Win medals and give away $500,000 to her teammates

“They can fuel their metabolism also on fat or glycogen at night, but then they run out of energy for the day,” Voigt told LiveScience. “Therefore, nectar-feeding bats are active throughout the whole night, visiting hundreds of flowers per night and covering large distances of several kilometers.”

In most animals, a large amount of the food consumed is converted into storage. When animals need fuel for metabolism, they draw from this source.

“Small nectar-feeding bats have among the highest metabolic costs among mammals, and mostly eat a diet low in fat and protein but rich in sugars,” the authors noted. “Metabolizing these sugars immediately [when] they are consumed, saves the costs of converting them to and from storage.”