Bat

Bat Picture

Bat Picture

Amazing Bat Facts

1.A single little brown bat (myotis) can eat up to 1000 mosquitoes in a single hour, and is one of the world's longest-lived mammals for its size, with life spans of almost 40 years.

2.Bats are more closely related to humans and other primates than they are to rodents. Several studies indicate that the Old World fruit bats and flying foxes may actually be descended from early primates such as lemurs.

3.Most bat moms give birth to only a single pup each year, making them very vulnerable to extinction. Bats are the slowest reproducing mammals on earth for their size.

4.Contrary to popular myths, most bats have very good eyesight, have excellent echolocation so they do not become entangled in human hair, and seldom transmit disease to other animals or humans.

5.The world's smallest mammal is the bumblebee bat of Thailand which weighs about as much as a dime and is critically endangered due to habitat loss.

6.Giant flying foxes (fruit bats) that live in Indonesia have wingspans of nearly six feet.

7.Bats are very clean animals, and groom themselves almost constantly (when not eating or sleeping) to keep their fur soft and clean, like tiny cats.

8. The pallid bat of western North America is totally immune to the stings of the scorpions and centipedes upon which it feeds.

9.The 30 million Mexican free-tailed bats from Bracken Cave in Texas eat 250 TONS of insects every summer night. They sometimes fly up to two miles high to feed or to catch tailwinds that carry them over long distances, and can fly at speeds of more than 60 miles per hour.

10. A single colony of 150 big brown bats can protect local farmers from up to 33 million or more root worms each summer.

11. Hoary bats are the most widely distributed bat in the Americas, ranging from northern Canada all the way down into South America, and there is even an endangered sub-species found out in the Hawaiian Islands.

12.Vampire bats adopt orphans, and are one of the few mammals known to risk their own lives to share food with less fortunate roost-mates.

13. The Honduran white bat is snow white with a yellow nose and ears. It cuts large leaves to make "tents" that protect its small colonies from jungle rains, one of 15 other species known to make tents.