Today I Learned About Bats

I learned that some mammals can fly. There are a few that glide such as flying squirrels, or gliding possums, but only bats can actually fly. A quarter of all mammals on earth are bats.

making them the only mammals naturally capable of true and sustained flight.

There are about 1240 different kinds of bats of which almost 70% of them eat insects making them insectivores. These cute little creatures help in various ways such as reducing the need for pesticides, pollinating flower.

Types of bats

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Another interesting fact I learned is that in most languages, except modern English, >the word for "bat" is cognate with the word for "mouse". Older English names is similar to that of other Germanic languages which was flittermouse.

There are two main suborders of bats.

• Megachiroptera (megabats)

  • Eat fruit, nectar or pollen

• Microchiroptera (microbats)

  • Mainly use echolocation
  • Mostly eat insects

Contrary to popular belief bats are not actually blind. Many bats have a poorly developed eye.

Mating

Many different female bats use various methods to ensure they are pregnant at the right time of the year when the insects are most prevalent, being the females must carry and feed the young almost up to the time they are full adults since their wings are to small to fly. It takes the new born bats between 3 and 6 weeks to learn to fly.

Interestingly enough female bats actually give birth upside down, therefore they must catch their young as they fall.

Conclusion

Let's do what we can to help out these little guys. They do so much good, from helping in making antibiotics, to pollinating, to pest control. Many of them are in despite need of help!

I wrote this as part of the 30 day writting challenge proposed by @dragosroua for the new year challenge.

Image Source 1, 2, 3, 4

Source 1, 2, 3

Thanks to SteemVerify.com and @elyaque

Thanks to @papa-pepper for the last gif.