5 Incredible Bat Facts

The much maligned bat is a poorly understood mammal that does not receive nearly the respect that is deserves. Whether they are gobbling up our insect pests or fertilizing our crops, bats have always been much more man's friend that foe. Due to the troubling problems that populations of many bat species face, it is time for more of us to learn the real story about these winged mammals of the night. Here are five incredible bat facts that might show that the world of bats is a much different what than you may have imagined.

Bats aren't Blind

Not only are bats not blind, they can actually see pretty good. There was a long standing myth that bats were blind from their day lives in the caves and relied entirely on echolocation for hunting and navigation. Instead, echolocation is used as a powerful tool for hunting, while bat's can see the world around them as well as most small mammals. How powerful is echolocation? It varies. Fishing bats, for example, have powers of echolocation so sharp that they can spot a fish's fin the width of human hair just two millimeters above the surface of the water.

1/4 of All Mammal Species are Bats

When I ran across this figure via Bat Conservation International, I found it to be a pretty hard pill to swallow. However, it turns out to be true. There are so many different species of bats, about 1,100 separate species in all, that they account for roughly one quarter of all of the mammalian species to be found on the planet.

Bats are Super Lightweight

Some of them are, anyway. The common little brown bat of North America may be able to catch 600 mosquitoes in an hour and survive for over thirty years, but it only weighs 0.3 ounces. That's the same weight as a dime, folks. Despite not having hollow bones and plenty of mammalian flesh, bats have to be very lightweight in order to fly and make precise maneuvers after airborne prey. The smallest bat known is the bumblebee bat, weighing in at a minuscule 0.07 ounces.

Bat Dropping Support Whole Ecosystems

Deep within the caves that some species of bats reside, their dropping are the primary source of calories and nutrients for entire complex ecosystems, albeit small ones. The lifeforms within these ecosystems include bacteria that man has found useful for producing antibiotics, detergents and gasohol.

Bats are Important to Agriculture

Rather than spreading disease and sucking blood, most bats spend their nights pollinating plants and eating up agricultural pests. For instance, bats pollinate nearly all of the agave plants used making tequila. they're also critical for the pollination of mangoes, cashes, bananas and other important crops. Without bats eating huge quantities of problem insects, farmers would be forced to use much higher quantities of environmentally damaging pesticides.

Sources:

http://www.batcon.org/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bat