Even thought bats can fly and sometimes look like a bird, they are not birds but a kind of mammals. There are wide varieties of bats in the world, over 1100 species. These species of bats are divided into two major categories, megabats and microbats. Most of the bats live on fruits, some live on insects and only a few of them feed on animals. Although bats don’t have a great reputation in terms of public perception, they are actually surprisingly cool creatures. Curious about what makes them so cool? Check out these Fun & Interesting Facts About Bats
Where can you find bats?
Bats can be found almost all over the world except in the Antarctic, the Arctic and some remote islands. Most species of bats hibernate in the wintertime. Another interesting fact about bats is that they can emit ultrasonic sounds. This process is called the Echolocation. Bats use this process to hunt in the dark, as the ultrasonic sound can give bats some ideas about the existence and location of their preys.
More about bats
Bats posses a very good sense of hearing. As opposed to other mammals, bats give birth to only one baby every year and they are called a pup or a kit. This is one reason why bats have the slowest reproductive rates in the world. Most species of bats are nocturnal by nature, which means they sleep during daytime and are active at night.
Dracula and Batman
The smallest bat and mammal in the world is called the bumblebee bat and you can find then in Thailand. Only a few species of bat actually drinks blood. There are a lot of mythologies surrounding bats and are often linked to being evil or are supernatural creatures. Popular movies are based on this myth and some familiar ones include fictional characters like Dracula and Batman.
Although bats don’t have a great reputation in terms of public perception, they are actually really cool creatures. More funny facts:
- In 600 BCE, Greek legendary fabulist, Aesop, told a fable about a bat that borrowed money to start a business. The business failed, and the bat had to hide during the day to avoid those it owed money to. According to Aesop, this is why bats come out only at night.
- In China and Japan, bats are symbols of happiness. In Chinese, the words for “good fortune” and “bat” are both pronounced “fu.”
- Bats wash behind their ears. They clean themselves and each other meticulously by licking and scratching for hours.
- Bats are the only mammals that can fly. The difference between bats and “flying squirrels” (another mammal that people wrongly believe can fly) is that bats can actively control how they fly, whereas “flying squirrels” can only glide.
- Approximately seventy percent of bats eat insects. An average bat can eat more than 600 insects in an hour, which is like an ordinary human eating something like twenty pizzas a night.
- Vampire bats have to drink as much as their own weight in blood every day. How much is that? A human vampire-like Dracula would have to drink the blood of an entire table full of guests every night just to stay alive.
- A poll by the television channel Animal Planet listed vampire bats as the third-most feared animal, right after wolves and gorillas and just ahead of piranhas.
