Bats

Adapted from Webster's Concise Interactive Encyclopedia.

Flying mammal in which the forelimbs are developed as wings capable of rapid and sustained flight. There are two main groups of bats: megabats, or flying foxes, which eat fruit, and microbats, which mainly eat insects. Although by no means blind, many microbats rely largely on echolocation for navigation and finding prey, sending out pulses of high-pitched sound and listening for the echo. Bats are nocturnal, and those native to temperate countries hibernate in winter. There are about 1,000 species of bats forming the order Chiroptera, making this the second-largest mammalian order; bats make up nearly one fourth of the world's mammals. Although bats are widely distributed, bat populations have declined alarmingly and many species are now endangered.

Megabats. The Megachiroptera live in the tropical regions of the Old World, Australia, and the Pacific and feed on fruit, nectar, and pollen. The hind feet have five toes with sharp hooked claws which suspend the animal head downward when resting. Relatively large, up to 900 g/2 lb with a 1.5 m/5 ft wingspan, they have large eyes and a long face earning them the name "flying fox". Many rainforest trees depend on bats for pollination and seed dispersal, and some 300 bat-dependent plant species yield more than 450 economically valuable products. Some bats are keystone species on whose survival whole ecosystems may depend.

Microbats. Most bats are Microchiroptera, mainly small and insect-eating, though some species feed on blood (vampire bats), frogs, or fish. They roost in caves, crevices, and hollow trees. A single bat may eat 3,000 insects in one night.

A bat's wings consist of thin hairless skin stretched between the four fingers of the hand, and from the last finger down to the hindlimb. The thumb is free and has a sharp claw to help in climbing. Some bats live to be over 30 years old. An adult female bat usually rears only one pup a year. The bumblebee bat, inhabiting SE Asian rainforests, is the smallest mammal in the world. In China bats are associated with good luck.