Bats

Bats
By Taylor

Bats are the only mammals that can fly. They have a fur covered body, and wings that are covered with smooth skin. The scientific name for bats is Chiroptera, a Greek word which means hand-wing. There are two main kinds of bats in the world. Megabats eat fruit and plants and can have a wing span up to six feet. Microbats are insect eaters and can weigh less than a penny.

Animal Communication

Most bats use echolocation (ek-o-lo-ka-shun) when hunting for food and to find their way in complete darkness. Sound waves come out of a bat's mouth or nose. Here is what it sounds like when a bat is using echolocation. Some bats have a growth around their nose which is used like a megaphone. When the sound waves hit the object, an echo comes back to the bat. The bat then interprets the echo to determine the object's shape, size, and even texture.

Bats also use sound to help them find food and avoid flying into things in the dark. They make very fast “squeaks” of sound. These sounds are very high pitched and most cannot be heard by humans. Some bats produce up to five hundred sounds per second! Most bat's ears are very large and have many ridges and folds. They give bats the ability to hear a wide range of sounds.

Bats Flying at Night Movie

Physical Characteristics

Most bats are light and built for flying. Most bats fly only at night and roost in dark places during the day. For this reason, most species are black, brown, and gray in color.

Bat's wings contain four long fingers which support the smooth skin and a short thumb that contains a sharp hooked claw which is used for grasping.

Because their knees only bend backward, bats are only able to hang upside down. They use their feet, which have five, short-clawed toes, to support them when hanging.

Habitat

Bats are found throughout the world. The greatest number are found in the tropics, but bats can also live in deserts, fields, and even cities! The only place bats do not live is in the Arctic.

Food

Microbats

Most microbats eat insects that fly at night such as moths, mosquitoes, flies, and beetles. They use echolocation to locate their prey. Some larger microbats use their wings like gloves to catch insects. When hunting for food, bats use echolocation. It sounds something like this.

Megabats

Megabats eat soft fruits such as mangos and bananas. Others use their tongues to sip nectar from the bottom of flowers. As they drink, the bats spread flower pollen which helps produce seeds for many tropical fruits.

Growth & Reproduction

Bats mate in the fall and winter, but their babies are not born until spring. Most bats only have one baby at a time. Special caves serve as “maternity wards” where only pregnant moms are allowed. When their babies are born, bat moms will hang them on the cave's ceiling packed very tightly together. After the moms return from feeding, they will nurse the first baby they see, even if it is not their own. At birth, a baby bat is one-fourth the size of its mother. Moms are able to carry their baby in flight at first. Baby bats learn to fly and capture their own food in about a month.

Other Interesting Facts

Did you know that....

According to researchers, a substance in the saliva of vampire bats contains a clot-busting substance that may be able to dissolve blood clots in stroke patients?
Bat droppings, or “guano,” are a main ingredient in plant food because they are rich in nitrogen.
Bats help control the number of insects in nature. They eat many insects we consider pests such as mosquitoes.
In China, bats are symbols of happiness. The five bat symbol represents five Chinese blessings; long life, health, wealth, virtue, and a gentle death.

Activities

How to make a Bat House

Citations

Video

Video of bats on tree created by page author Taylor at the Milwaukee County Zoo. 8 April 2006.

Online Resources

“Bat”. World Book Online Reference Center. 2005. World Book, Inc. 20 December, 2005. <http://www.worldbookonline.com/wb/Article?id=ar049100>.

“Echolocation: and How It Works.” 28 December 2005. <http://members.aol.com/bats4kids/echo.htp>.

Printed Resources

Lavine, Sigmund A. Wonders of the Bat World. Dodd, Mead & Co. 1969.

Mason, Adrienne. Bats. Kids Can Press Ltd. 2003.

Sound Clips

Bats using echolocation from www.batcalls.org. April, 2006. <http://www.batcalls.org>.

Images

Copyrighted images of the flying bat at the top of the page from "Microsoft Office Online" <http://office.microsoft.com/clipart/default.aspx?lc=en-us&cag=1>
February, 2006. Clip art available only to licensed users for non-commercial purposes.

Permission to use photographs of the bat sleeping, the eating bat, and the bat in flight are granted under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page>.