Did you know that there are over 1,200 different species of bats in the world?
Or what the smallest bat in the world is?
If you love these flying mammals, check out our interesting facts on bats!
There are two main groups of bats, these are Megachiroptera (Large Bat or magabats) and Microchiroptera (Small Bat or microbats).
Bats live in caves, trees and buildings.
A group of bats is known as a colony and a baby bat is known as a pup.
Bats are mouse-like nocturnal flying mammals, which were once known as flying or ‘flitter’ mice.
They are the only mammals that are capable of controlled, self-propelled flight.
Noctule bats fly before sunset, whereas Pipistrelles appear soon after sunset.
The reason why bats hang upside down when resting is because their limbs are unable to support their weight.
In the U.K. there are seventeen species of bats. All of these are protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act.
The smallest bat in the world is called the Bumblebee Bat.
During hibernation, bats slow down their heart rate, breathing and other body functions, to conserve energy.
In South America there are blood eating bats, called vampire bats, this is why bats are seen at Halloween… because they’re evil blood sucking creatures.
Bats make high-frequency sounds, and the echoes of these sounds bounce back which enables a bat to make a mental map. Using this mental map they are able to avoid the smallest of obstacles whilst locating their prey.
In just a split second Echolocation enables bats to determine the size of objects, their location, how fast they are traveling and even their texture!
We hope you enjoyed these 13 facts about bats, if you have any more you’d like to share, leave them in a comment below!
