you're watching freeschool! hunters of the night, they awake as the sungoes down and fly through the darkness in search of prey. no, we're not talking about vampires - we'retalking about bats! bats are nocturnal, which means they are activeat night. there are more than 1,100 species of bats, making them the second-most commongroup of mammals on the planet. about one species of mammal in every five in the wholeworld is a bat! bats live almost everywhere, except the arctic, antarctic, and a few isolatedislands. they usually roost in caves, old buildings, or trees, although they may alsobe found on the underside of bridges.
bats are mammals, which means they are warm-blooded,they have fur, and they feed their babies milk. unlike any other kind of mammal, however,bats can fly! bat wings and bird wings are different. birdwings are like arms, with feathers growing out of them to provide lift and allow flight.bat wings are like hands with very long fingers. thin, leathery skin stretched between the'fingers' is what makes the surface of the wings. because bats have more movement intheir wings than birds do, they can change direction faster than birds can, which makesit easier to catch their food. most bats eat insects: about 70% of all batsare insectivores. many of the rest eat fruit or nectar. only three species drink blood.
bats that drink blood are called 'vampirebats,' but there's no reason to fear these small creatures. native to mexico and southamerica, two of the vampire bat species prefer to drink blood from birds, and the third prefersblood from cattle. although they may sometimes drink human blood, people and animals bittenby vampire bats won't turn into vampires. there are two main types of bats: megabats,and microbats. microbats are the smaller type of bats, rangingfrom the bumblebee bat at 4 cm or less than 2 inches in length, all the way to the spectralbat, with a length of 13 centimeters or 5 inches and a wingspan up to a meter. microbats use echolocation. although batscan see well with their eyes, they sometimes
fly into completely dark places, like deepcaves, where navigating by sight is impossible. even when some light is present, finding flyinginsects in the dark is a difficult task. echolocation is something like the sonar usedby ships and submarines to find things underwater. when bats fly, they make small, high pitchednoises, too high for humans to hear. the sound waves travel away from the bat. if they hitsomething, they will echo, or bounce back. from the shape of the echo, the bats knowwhat is in front of them. this is why bats don't crash into things in the dark. megabats are generally larger than microbats,although some, like the mauritian tomb bat may only grow to a length of 6 cm or 2.5 inchesin length, the largest - the giant golden-crowned
flying fox - may have a wingspan of up to1.7 meters or 5.6 feet). megabats are also called 'fruit bats' becausethey eat fruit or nectar. because of this, most megabats do not use echolocation, andso have much smaller ears compared to their heads than microbats do. megabats also havea much stronger sense of smell than microbats. no matter what kind of bat they are, batsare important members of the ecosystems in which they live. bats that eat insects helpcontrol pests like mosquitoes. just one bat can eat up to 1,000 mosquitoes in an hour!bats that drink nectar help pollinate plants so that they can produce fruit. over 500 plantspecies depend on bats for pollination, including some species of mango, banana, and cocoa.even bats that eat fruit help spread the seeds
from inside the fruit so that new plants cangrow. bats are amazing! i hope you enjoyed learning about bats today.goodbye till next time!