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Batty about bats

COMPILED BY ROHINI RAMAKRISHNAN

A. fistulata has the longest tongue, relative to body length, of any mammal and now scientists think they know why. "This bat was just discovered last year, and now we've observed a very unique relationship with a local flower," said Nathan Muchhala, a University of Miami Ph.D. student. Found in an Andean cloud forest in Ecuador, A. fistulata (aka the tube-lipped nectar bat) evolved mutually with an extremely long, bell-shaped flower, the team says. In fact, armed with a tongue that retracts into the bat's rib cage, A. fistulata is now the only animal that can pollinate the flower.

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