FACTS OF INTEREST:
- bats have existed for at least 50 million years
- scientists believe they evolved from squirrels
- there are over 1000 species of bats
- most bats are nocturnal
- they sleep during the day hanging upside-down from cave walls, attic ceilings, undersides of bridges or high in the trees
- the place where a bat sleeps is called its roost
- bats come out to forage or hunt at night
- bats have been know to care for sick and elderly members of their colony by feeding them when they are unable to leave the roost to forage and hunt
- bats are social animals and most sleep together in huge groups called colonies
- Bracken Cave in Texas is home to 25 million bats
- in the spring, female bats give birth to babies called pups
- bats usually have one pup at a time, but sometimes twins
- bats live between 10-20 years
- the oldest bat on record was 41 years old
- many bats have an extremely acute sense of smell
- since it is difficult to see at long distances during the night, some species of bat use echolocation or biosonar to get a sense of what is around them
- the bat emits a call into the air and listens for the echo that reflects off of object around them
- a bat’s wings are made of 2 yaers of skin that cover its arm and fingers
- much like a human hand, a bat’s has 4 fingers and a small thumb with a sharp nail used for climbing, grooming and grasping food
- Bats’ fingers are incredibly long compared to the size of their bodies
- bats diets vary greatly from species to species
- the infamous Vampire Bat feed on blood, mostly from large livestock
- the Fruit Bat eats fruit and nectar from flowers
- most species of bat eat insects like mosquitos
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Little Bat Puppet from Folkmanis