Bats Theme--School-age

Bats

Things to Know

Bats are mammals. Mammals are warm-blooded, babies are born live and not hatched from an egg, they nurse their young, and have hair or fur. Humans, dogs, whales are types of mammals.

Bats are the only mammal that can truly fly. There are other animals that may appear to fly but they really don't. Sugar gliders and flying squirrels glide rather than fly. They glide from a high point to a low point. Bats are able to launch into flight from a still position.

Bats are mammals, not birds.

Distribution

Bats are found almost everywhere in the world except in extremely cold areas and on some remote islands. The places on Earth with no bats are the Arctic, Antarctic and a few isolated Oceanic islands.

Bat Range

Bat Species

Bats are nocturnal.

Most bats are nocturnal. They spend the day grooming and sleeping. Bats hunt during the night. About 70% of bats eat insects, they come out at night to eat bugs. Most bats in the USA and UK feed only on insects.

Species

All bats belong to the scientific order Chiroptera, which means "hand-wing" in Greek. There are two suborders of bats: Megabat (Megachiroptera), meaning large bat (usually fruit eating bats) and microbat (Microchiroptera), meaning small bat (usually eats insects).

There are over 900 bat species in the world. Most bats eat insects (about 70%). Insect-eating bats are usually small in size. The kitti's hog-nosed bat, also known as the bumblebee bat, is about 1.1 to 1.3 inches (29 to 33mm) in length and weighs 0.074 oz (2 g).

Bumblebee Bat

Vital Ecological Role

Bats perform the vital roles of consuming insect pests, pollinating flowers and dispersing fruit seeds. Bats are important pollinators in tropical and desert climates. Most flower-visiting bats are found in Africa, Southeast Asia, and the Pacific Islands.

The Mexican long-tongued bat migrates north in the spring from Mexico into Arizona, New Mexico and Texas.

Mexican long-tongued bat

Body

Bats have fur on their bodies. The bat has two wings covered in skin. It flies with its fingers. It uses its thumbs to grip a branch and to crawl across rocky walls. It hangs by its feet upside down to sleep by day.

Bats are expert fliers. A bats body is made for flying with a short neck, a small stomach, and large muscles in their backs and chest. Bats don't flap their wings up and down to fly, they fly with a rowing motion.

The bones in bats wings are similar to the bones in our arm and hand. The bones are very long compared to a bats body. A bat has a thumb and four fingers and can move their wing like a hand. When bats extend their fingers, their wings are ready for flight. By shaping their 'hands' they control their flight path.