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Goser234 t1_j9l5h82 wrote

Reply to comment by FiascoBarbie in What makes bats a good disease vector? by JustJustinInTime

When you say "fairly high" how does that compare to like cats and dogs? I only ask because they also have a warmer body temperature and was wondering if we could see a similar, if downplayed, effect

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andanother12345 t1_j9lbvce wrote

In general the smaller the mammal the faster it's metabolic rate (with some exceptions). A faster metabolic rate generates more heat. Flight also requires a lot of effort and the metabolic rate goes quite high while animals are flying. In birds we see a typical core temperature of 102-109F and bats 99-106F.

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UDPviper t1_j9mf5mf wrote

And since bats are the only mammals that fly it would be a good guess to say they might have the highest body temperature of all mammals.

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thumpngroove t1_j9mg1kc wrote

Just the fact that they are mammals and can cover large distances make them pretty effective diisease vectors, it would seem.

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