10 Facts About Bats

1. The oldest discovered fossils of ancient bats are estimated at approximately 52 million years old.
2. Bats are the only mammals capable of true flight, basically meaning they can flap their wings to accomplish actual flight. There are other mammals who are commonly said to fly, such as flying squirrels, but they actually glide upon the air and cannot keep themselves suspended in the air.
3. Despite the old saying about “being as blind as a bat,” bats are not generally blind. They do have very poor eyesight, but they can see short distances.
4. Bats have a natural radar system called echolocation. This allows bats to be fully functional in complete darkness. They send out ultrasonic pulses which bounce back from objects and give the bat a mental image of their surroundings.
5. Depending upon the species, bats generally either migrate or hibernate during cold weather.
6. While a few notorious species of bats are known for drinking blood, mainly vampire bats, most bat species subside upon fruits or insects. Some few species will eat small animals such as frogs or even fish.
7. Despite the rumors, vampire bats very rarely bite humans. In fact, vampire bats usually drink blood slowly from larger herd animals such as horses and cows.
8. Did you know bats play an important role in ecology? They do. Bats are very important to rain forests. Some scientists estimate that bats spread 95 percent of the seeds needed to keep rain forests thriving. Bats do this by eating fruit and plants and then leaving droppings which contain seeds.
9. Bats are known to fly for hundreds upon hundreds of miles for hibernation, or even just to search for food.
10. Generally speaking, most bats can live as long as 20 years.

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