By: Anna W. & Grace E. The Awesome People Inc. Busy with Bats

There are many species. Over 1,000! Here are seven of them:  You can recognize the Vampire Bat by it’s muzzle which is flat, it can also walk, hop, and jump.  The Little Brown Bat is 7-10 cm. It has dark brown fur, and it’s tail lacks fur.  Fruit Bat, is 2 inches, has black wings and reddish/brown fur.  The Little Red Flying Fox has reddish/brown fur and wings and can be found in Australia.  Bumblebee Bat: This bat is an endangered species and with reddish fur and a piggy like nose, it is so cute!  The Indiana Bat it is 2 in. and native to North America! It also has a pinkish nose and mates in the fall.  Spotted Bat has large ears, pink wings, and can be very territorial. Bat Species

Habitats The place a bat lives is called a roost. Their most natural place for a bat to live is in trees and caves. Sometimes abandoned mine shafts offer the right environment for bats to colonize. Under bridges is another common location for bats to be found. This offers them the idea environment and they are free from predators. They don’t have to worry about too much disruption from humans in such an area either. They will roost under large trees that have full branches and leaves in many areas. These trees help them to stay well hidden from an array of predators.

Diet 70% of bats consume insects, sharing a large part of natural pest control. There are also fruit-eating bats; nectar-eating bats; carnivorous bats that prey on small mammals, birds, lizards and frogs; fish- eating bats, and perhaps most famously, the blood-sucking vampire bats of South America. Bats feed mainly on insects, using their echolocation ability to find flying or crawling insects and their superb flying skills to catch them. This involves gathering prey in their wing or tail membranes, and transferring it to their mouths mid-flight! Insect- eating bats are supremely good at what they do - a single little brown bat can catch and eat 600 mosquitoes in an hour! Other bats feed on some fish, frogs, lizards, small rodents, small birds, and even other, smaller bats and while bats have a reputation for sucking blood, only three out of the thousand or so species of bat actually feed on blood. Vampire bats usually feed on livestock, although humans may occasionally be unwitting blood donors. They make a small, painless incision in the skin and lap up the blood with their tongues while anti-coagulant chemicals in their saliva ensure that the blood meal continues flowing. And yet, there are the fruit bats that eat fruit, flowers, pollen, and even nectar. YUM! What a good healthy meal!

BATS ARE WORTHLESS ANIMALS! NO! Bats are very, very helpful! They help control the insect population, reseed cut forests, and pollinate plants that provide food for humans. Bats also taught us about sonar. OTHER MAMMALS CAN FLY LIKE BATS, RIGHT? NO! Some mammals, like the flying squirrels can glide, but bats are the only mammals that can really fly. There are many different ways bats fly. Some can hover like hummingbirds while feeding on nectar, and a few flying foxes can soar in the air like eagles. BATS ARE FLYING MICE, RIGHT?NO! While both bats and mice are mammals, bats are not rodents and are more closely related to primates and people. Besides...mice can't fly! DO BATS GET CAUGHT IN YOUR HAIR? NO! If bats can find tiny insects in total darkness, would they get tangled up in your hair? No! They are much too smart to fly into people. Bat Myths

Bat Pics. Short Nosed Fruit Bat The Painted Bat The Indiana BatThe Vampire Bat A colony of bats Striped Bat White Fruit Bat The Tent Making Bat Spotted Bat Virginia Big-Eared Bat Colony

Websites we used &source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0CAYQ_AUoAWoVChMIiOjGoZXUyAI VUvtjCh2kMgUs#tbm=isch&q=bats&imgrc=dUlpu3mHmHP8BM%3A Thank You for Watching! And if you haven’t already, please go and check out our Kahoot Quiz called “Busy with Bats”, also!