Birds vs. Bats Bats are mammals. They have fur or hair. A baby bat is born live. The babies nurse from their mom. Bats have arms, hands and feet. They are warm blooded. Birds Are...well...birds! They are hatched from eggs. Birds have feathers, not fur or hair. Babies are fed from mom's mouth. They have wings, but no hands and fingers.

Where do bats live? They live on all continents except Antarctica. You can find more bats where the weather is nice and warm. In the United States, bats live in the southwestern part of the country. Texas has 32 different kinds of bats while Maine has only 8; and Arizona has 28 species, but Michigan has just 10.

What kind of food do bats eat? Fruit-eating bats prefer ripe fruit. Bats that like to eat nectar pick up pollen. Meat-eating bats use vision, echolocation and sounds from their prey to help locate their food. Fishing bats grab little fish out of the water with their claws. Echolocation is used to find this food. Most vampire bats drink the blood of birds. 70 Percent of bats eat insects.

How bats help us humans Some bats help control the insect population. Certain Bats are helpful to farmers. Many bats spread seeds for new plants and trees. The Vampire bat might help scientists.

How birds locate their food ECHOLOCATION Bats send out sound waves using their mouth or nose. When the sound hits an object an echo comes back. The bat can identify an object by the sound of the echo. They can even tell the size, shape and texture of a tiny insect from its echo. Most bats use echolocation to navigate in the dark and find food.

NOW LET’S GO OVER WHAT WE’VE LEARVED… How are birds and bats similar and how are they different? –B–Bats are mammals like us –B–Birds are hatched from eggs Where do bats live? –E–Every continent except Antarctica –W–Warm areas –S–Southwestern part of the United States –T–Texas has 32 kinds of bats

NOW LET’S GO OVER WHAT WE’VE LEARVED… What do the different types of bats eat? –Fruit, meat, blood, nectar, insects, fish Bats help humans how? –Eating insects –Dropping seeds and helping plant flowers and trees –Researchers in Science

NOW LET’S GO OVER WHAT WE’VE LEARVED… How do bats find their food? –Echolocation What is echolocation? –When bats use vibrations from objects to find food and their way around

NEW VOCABULARY FOR THE UNIT: Echolocation Rain forest Continent Vampire Region Mammal Nectar Cave Equator Tropical