subject: Are You Aware Of These Bat Facts? [print this page] Bats are mammals, The fly with their webbed wings, making them the only mammals naturally that can fly. Mammals such as flying squirrels and gliding possums only glide rather than fly. In fact the flying squirrel and the gliding possums can only glide for short distances. Bats do not flap their limbs, as birds do, but flap their spread-out digits, that are long and covered with a thin membrane.
Bats make up about 20% of all mammal species worldwide. There are 1,240 bat species and two suborders of species:
The fruit-eating or flying foxes and
The more highly specialized bats.
70% of bats are insect eaters. The rest are fruit eaters. There are a few species, such as the fish-eating bat, and others which feed from animals rather than insects. The infamous vampire bats are the only parasitic mammal species. Bats exist throughout most of the world. Bats contribute to the vital natural roles of pollinating flowers and distributing fruit seeds. Tropical plant species are dependent on bats for the distribution of their seeds. Bats by eating insects reduce the use of pesticides. The smallest bat is the Kitti's hog-nosed bat which measures1 to 1.34 inches in length 5.91 inches wingspan and weighs 0.07 to .09 OZs. The bat is also the smallest species of mammal, with the Etruscan shrew being the other contender. The largest of bats is the giant golden-crowned flying fox. This bat is 3 to 13 inches long. The bats wings span to 5 ft. The giant golden crowned flying fox bat weighs approximately 2 to 3 lb.
There are some places in the world that people eat bats, such as the Philippines and Laos. Mostly bats are consumed in Southeast Asia. For the most part bats are good for the environment because of the natural insect control they perform. A bat consumes its weight in insects every night it feeds. Bats aid farmers, suburban residents and commercial areas by consuming insect such as mosquitos that may be harmful to Humans and pets such as Dogs also.
If a bat invades your human territory and are a nuisance use a humane professional animal removal company to relocate the bat. Then have the animal removal company perform proactive exclusion to keep from nesting in your dwelling.
