Bat Interesting Facts
What type of animal is a bat?
Bats are a flying mammal type of animal.
What class of animal does a bat belong to?
Bats belong to the mammal class of animals.
How many bats are there in the world?
There are a total of 1,400 species of bats in the world.
Where does a bat live?
Bats are found in caves, tropical rainforests, or subtropical forests.
What is a bat's habitat?
Bats pick an assortment of diurnal perches, although the perch necessities of bats varies across the subspecies. Though they are similar when it comes to light, temperature, and mugginess. Every species favors a specific sort of perch, however, this changes with sex, season, and reproductive activity. Sometimes bats are solitary, and at times the grown-up female only perches with its most recent offspring.
Who do bats live with?
Bat lives in groups, and the group of bats is called a colony.
How long does a bat live?
Most bats are capable of living close to 20 years in the wild, but according to research by scientists, six species live more than 30 years.
How do they reproduce?
Bats are the slowest mammal in the process of reproduction. Female and male bats mate in winter but give birth in the spring. Many female bats store male bats sperm until spring, and others keep the fertilized egg from growing until then. Females need more food than male bats in order to feed their babies as well as themselves.
What is their conservation status?
Regarding the conservation status of bats, some species are close to Endangered. The reasons behind bats becoming Endangered are habitat loss, destruction of roosts, hunting, and disturbances during their hibernation process.
Bat Fun Facts
What do bats look like?
Bat wings are similar in appearance to the lower edges of old-fashioned umbrellas. Their wings are leathery, and they have rubbery skin, which is hairless. They come in varied colors, including black, brown, red, tan, and gray. Bats have big ears like rodents, fur-covered torsos, and short snouts.
How cute are they?
Bats are fairly cute. A cute bat has a furry appearance with a small snout and small eyes, making them look very innocent and cuddly. That is until you look into the eyes of one that is nesting in a pitch-black cave.
How do they communicate?
Bats communicate by chirping, screeching, and singing. They have high-frequency chirps. They can emit and hear a frequency of over 100,000 sound waves per second.
How big is a bat?
Little brown bats are 3 in (7 cm) long, 0.02 lb (10 g) in weight with 10 in (25 cm) of wingspan. Mexican free-tailed bats are 3.5 in (8 cm) in length, 11 in (27 cm) wingspan, and 0.02 lb (10 g) in weight. The most common bats which reside in the United States have a length of 2-3 in (5-7 cm), with about 0.02 lb (10 g) weight, and a 10 in (25 cm) wingspan. The smallest bat in the world is known as Kitti's hog-nosed bat and weighs only 0.004 lb (2 g), and the largest bat, the giant golden-crowned flying fox, weighs 2.8 lb (1,300 g), are 11 in (27 cm) long, and have a wingspan of about 66 in (5.5 ft).
How fast can a bat move?
Mexican free-tailed bats are the fatest bat species and can fly at a speed of 99 mph (160 kmph). The flight speed of cave bats and other species of bat is recorded to be around 10 mph (16 kmph).
How much does a bat weigh?
A bat weighs up to 0.01-0.02 lb (0.25–0.42 oz).
What are the male and female names of the species?
Both the male and female are referred to as Chiroptera or just bats.
What would you call a baby bat?
Baby bats are called pups.
What do they eat?
The larger species of bats eat insects, nectar, and fruits. These bats can eat between 2,000 and 3,000 insects a night. Bats use echolocation. They locate their food and hunt at night.
Are they dangerous?
Bats are neither aggressive nor dangerous. They keep to themselves within their colonies, and as long as humans do not interfere with them, they do not attempt to harm. Many bats are small in size. They use their small teeth and jaws to eat insects, while the giant bat, hoary bats, and big brown bats have large teeth that are capable of causing serious injuries like puncturing the skin.
Would they make a good pet?
Bats, in general, are good pets. If they are well cared for and are given an appropriate place to rest, you'll have a great time with these cute little creatures. But beware of your local laws before considering to keep them as pets.
Kidadl Advisory: All pets should only be bought from a reputable source. It is recommended that as a potential pet owner you carry out your own research prior to deciding on your pet of choice. Being a pet owner is very rewarding but it also involves commitment, time and money. Ensure that your pet choice complies with the legislation in your state and/or country. You must never take animals from the wild or disturb their habitat. Please check that the pet you are considering buying is not an endangered species, or listed on the CITES list, and has not been taken from the wild for the pet trade.
Did you know...
Hammerhead bats, also known as the hammer-headed fruit bat, are found in West and Central Africa. They are the largest bat found in the African continent. The variety of body designs on the male and female bats make them the most explicitly dimorphic bat species on the planet.
Bats are creatures with pointy teeth, but they don't bite humans unnecessarily. As long as humans do not disturb their peace, they won't become aggravated. In fact, they tend to avoid any contact with humans. A fascinating fact about bats is that they excrete sparkles, or at least it looks like they do as they consume lots of insects with shiny exteriors so their feces tends to have shiny particles. Bats can be kept as pets as it has been observed that with good care, bats can be good pets. But, bats are not an animal that qualifies to be kept as a pet under most creature laws. It has been a misconception that bats bite people without any reason, also including the myth that they suck blood.
Flying foxes colonies can contain up to 200,000 bats. A huge number of bat species found in the U.S. are insectivorous. Three species are flower-eating bats. Vespertilionidae, Molossidae, Mormoopidae, and Phyllostomidae belong to the North American bat families. The bats in the U.S are becoming infected with a fatal disease called white-nose syndrome. This infection affects the animal's fat reserves, preventing the bat from surviving winter hibernation, and there is no cure developed for the white-nose syndrome as of yet. White-nose syndrome disease spread to 33 states in the U.S. and 7 Canadian provinces in 2018.
Bats communicate by chirping, screeching, and singing. They have high-frequency chirps. It is an amazing fact that they can emit and hear the frequency of over 100,000 sound waves per second. Most bats' lifespan is less than 20 years in the wild, but according to research by scientists, six species lifespan is more than 30 years. The conservation status of bats is Endangered. The main reasons behind bats becoming Endangered is habitat loss, destruction of roosts, hunting, and disturbances during their hibernation process. Since COVID-19, bat conservation has been even more critical as it impacts the lives of people worldwide. About 200 species are now threatened with Extinction.
Do bats bite people?
Yes, bats can bite people, but only if they are disturbed. They are known to be peaceful animals that feed on insects, fruit, small animals, and the blood from mammals. They try to stay away from areas which have high human activities. The myth that bats resort to sucking human blood is completely false.
How to draw a bat?
Draw a circle for the head of the bat. Draw an oval for its body. Draw two triangles above its head to create its ears. Continue to draw its facial features such as a small snout including two pointy teeth, a curved line for its mouth, two tiny round eyes, and a black nose. To draw its wings, consider a stretched-out letter 'M' except place the Bat's body in the middle. Continue to add details to its wings by adding lines from the middle of each wing. Join the lines from the ends of the wings to make it look webbed. Color it in to finish your cute-looking bat.
How to build a bat house?
Measure first and then and cut pressed wood into three pieces. Roughen within the back-board and base region by cutting flat sections with a sharp item. Ensure that the grooves are profound. The tough plastic cross-section for tractions can be filled in for roughening to give traction to the bats. Append one piece to the back-board subsequent to staining the inside. Apply two layers of dull, water-based polish to inside surfaces. Don't use paint as this will make the grooves unusable. Now cut the furring strip. Connect these strips to the back, caulking first. Start with a piece at the top. Connect the front to the furring strips, the top piece should come first. Leave vent space among the top and base front pieces. Caulk around all external joints to additional seal the perching chamber. Connect a board to the top as a rooftop. Paint or stain the outside multiple times. Cover the rooftop with shingles or electrified metal. Introduce bats as indicated by directions recommended by professionals.
Here at Kidadl, we have carefully created lots of interesting family-friendly animal facts for everyone to discover! Learn more about some other mammals including vampire bat, or Mexican free-tailed bat.
You can even occupy yourself at home by drawing one of our bat anatomy coloring pages.
