Bat

Bats are mammals of the order Chiroptera. With their forelimbs adapted as wings, they are the only mammals capable of true and sustained flight. Many bats are insectivores, and most of the rest are frugivores or nectarivores.

About Bat in brief

Summary Bat Bats are mammals of the order Chiroptera. With their forelimbs adapted as wings, they are the only mammals capable of true and sustained flight. The largest bats are the flying foxes and the giant golden-crowned flying fox, Acerodon jubatus, which can weigh 1. 6 kg and have a wingspan of 1. 7 m. Many bats are insectivores, and most of the rest are frugivores or nectarivores. A few species feed on animals other than insects; for example, the vampire bats feed on blood. Bats provide humans with some direct benefits, at the cost of some disadvantages. Due to their physiology, bats are one type of animal that acts as a natural reservoir of many pathogens, such as rabies. Since they are highly mobile, social, and long-lived, they can readily spread disease among themselves. They are sometimes numerous enough and close enough to human settlements to serve as tourist attractions, and they are used as food across Asia and the Pacific Rim. The word ‘bat’ was probably first used in the early 1570s. An older English name for bats is flittermouse, which matches their name in other Germanic languages, related to the fluttering of wings. The delicate skeletons of bats do not fossilise well; it is estimated that only 12% of bat genera that lived have been found in the fossil record.

The extinct bats Palaeochiropteryx tupaiodon and Hassaeochianycteris kumari are the first fossil mammals whose colouration has been discovered: both were reddish-brown. Modern genetic evidence now places bats in the superorder Laurasiia, which includes carnivorans pangolins, even-toed ungulates, cetaceans and cedars. One study places Chiropteras as a sister taxon to odd-to-odds ungulate groups such as E. coli, C. elegans, and E. tongue-eating bats. The name ‘chiroptera’ means ‘wing’ in Ancient Greek and ‘pteron’ is the Greek word for ‘hand’ or ‘wings’. It is uncertain whether bats have these behaviours to escape predators, and it is uncertain if they roost in caves or other refuges to avoid predators. The smallest bat, and arguably the smallest extant mammal, is Kitti’s hog-nosed bat, which is 29–34 millimetres in length, 150 mm across the wings and 2–2. 6g in mass. Bats are important in their ecosystems for pollinating flowers and dispersing seeds; many tropical plants depend entirely on bats for these services. On the disadvantages side, fruit bats are frequently considered pests by fruit growers. They are often used as fertiliser, and in many places still is mined as guano from caves and used as fertilizer.