Bats!

It may seem odd to honor an animal that is so widely despised, but as is often the case, the reputation of the bat says more about the folks who fear it than it does about the animal itself.

One out of every 5 mammals is a bat!

A long time ago, people used to think bats were birds without feathers. Now we know that bats are Mammals, just like people. Some things which tell us bats are mammals:

• Bats are warm blooded
• Bats nurse their babies with milk
• Bats have fur

The term “blind as a bat” isn’t really accurate. Bats have perfectly good eyes for seeing in the daylight, but they do most of their hunting at night. They make high-pitched squeaks called ultrasounds which bounce back to tell them where an object is (this is called echolocation).

Check out this great article by Defenders of Wildlife on Basic Facts About Bats.

Below are a few fun facts about these flying mammals:

• Scientists have found evidence that bats have existed for 50 million years.
• Bats are mammals.
• Bat wings are made of two thin layers of skin stretched over the bat’s arm and fingers.
• Bats have a thumb and four fingers, just like people.
• Bat fingers are very long compared to its body. If we had fingers like a bat, they would be longer than our legs!
• Bats smell, hear, taste, feel and see just like people do.
• Bat females have baby bats called pups. Like people, they usually only have one baby at a time, but on occasion they’ll have twins.