Bats Book

The zoo came to my library and gave a presentation on bats a couple days ago and I had already checked this out to read in the fall so the timing was perfect. It was so cool how she thanked a curator at the New York zoo in the Bronx. 

I didn't understand why she said that most people have never seen a bat. How can you not have seen a bat?! They're flying in the sky all the time! 

It explained what nocturnal means, awake at night. They're mammals who are warm-blooded and have live babies. I was just reminded from the class that mammals also drink their mom's milk so I wish that was included. 
They're the only mammals that fly. 

I liked the point she made how there were stories about bats being evil and associated with witches, and that's why people think they're scary. But they're actually shy and gentle.

Bats can move each finger separately to change the shape of their wings. This allows them to change speed and direction quickly.

Some bats can fly as fast as 15 mph and as high as 10,000 ft. 

Their homes are called roosts. 

The smallest and the largest bat both live in Asia.

They use echolocation where they send out a quick beeping sound that's too high-pitched for us to hear. They hit an object and then bounce back to their ears as an echo. It tells them the size and shape and location. 

"If it weren't for bats, there would be too many insects." 
What an important point!

They help pollinate plants so we can have food like avocados, figs, and bananas. They help scatter seeds. 

Most bats have good hearing, sight, and smell.

Bats have pups, with all the females gathering in a roost in the spring. Most have one at a time.

The class told us that bats give birth upside down. But in here it showed a pic of the mom holding on with her thumbs, right side up, and she wrote that they form a basket with their tail membrane and catch the baby when it comes out. Then she hangs upside down, holding it in her wings to nurse. The pup holds on with its teeth and claws. 

They grow quickly. At 10 days old they're almost too heavy to carry. At 3 months they fly on their own. They're adults at about one year. 

Bats face problems such as habitat destruction, pollution, and pesticide use on insects. In some places there aren't enough bats to eat insects and pollinate. 

They're helped by bat boxes, caves being covered by grillwork. (I didn't understand how bats can enter but people can't. How do they fly through?) And there are nature preserves to protect them.

The book ended with "Bats play an important role in nature." She should have left it off there instead of saying "It's fun to learn about them." It was an odd statement, like saying that she has fun learning about them, or telling us it's fun? That's something people decide on their own! 

Facts at the end:
Almost 50% of bat species in the US are endangered. 
In China bats are a good-luck symbol. 
They're not blind; they can see well. 
All bats don't have rabies. They can't get rabies any more than any other animal. 
Don't touch a bat on the ground because it could bite and could be sick.

There are so many species of bats that I know they couldn't cover them all, but I wish they hadn't just chosen a handful of bats and highlighted them.