Bats are one of the most beneficial animals on the planet: 70% of the world’s bat species feed on insects — and one bat can consume up to 1,000 insect pests in an hour.
Bats also play a critical role in pollination and seed dispersal.
Sadly, in North America, more than 5.7 million bats have died from white-nose syndrome (WNS) since 2006. Eleven bat species in nineteen U.S. states and four Canadian provinces are affected by, or at risk from, WNS.
Bat fact 1: Bats are the only mammal capable of true flight. Other mammals may glide, but bats actually fly. The elongated fingers of the bat’s wing are anatomically similar to the human hand.
Bat fact 2: Bats’ knees face backwards. The position of bats’ knees aids in the bat’s ability to navigate in flight and to hang by its feet. Bats cling to their roosts without expending energy, using specialized tendons that hold their toes in place. In order to let go of the roosting surface, bats must flex their toe muscles.
Bat fact 3: Bats are not rodents – and are actually more closely related to primates. Bats are not even closely related to rodents. Although a shrew-like ancestor is shared by bats and primates, bats belong to their own group, the Chiroptera, which means “hand-wing”.
Bat fact 4: Vampire bats do not suck blood; they simply lap it up like a dog or cat drinking water. Vampire bats feed almost exclusively on blood, mainly from cattle, horses, and wild mammals. To access its food, a vampire bat uses its teeth to pierce the skin of an animal while it sleeps and consumes just two tablespoons of blood. Vampire bats rarely bite humans, although a blood anticoagulant found in vampire bat saliva is being tested to help treat stroke victims.
Bat fact 5: Bats keep themselves extremely clean. Fastidious bats will groom themselves for hours.
Bat fact 6: Although they have relatively good eyesight, insectivorous Microchiroptera (microbats) use echolocation to find prey and avoid objects and predators in the darkness. Bats create sounds using their mouth or nose, and when the sound hits an object, an echo bounces back to the bat. Using echolocation, a bat can detect and avoid an object no wider than a piece of thread.
Bat fact 7: Megachiroptera (megabats) such as flying foxes do not use echolocation like other bats. Flying foxes — a group of Old World bats found in Australia, Africa, and Asia — locate their diet of ripe fruit using eyesight and an excellent sense of smell.
Bat fact 8: Bats have a lifespan of 20 to 30 years. The lifespan of a bat is the longest for any mammal of their size.
Bat fact 9: Most bat species produce just one offspring per year. Their slow reproductive rate makes bats especially vulnerable to extinction. A baby bat is called a “pup”.
Bat fact 10: There are over 1,100 species of bats in the world. Bats comprise nearly 25% of all mammal species. More than 50% of the 45 bat species in the U.S. are in decline.
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