Description

• Bats can be lots of different sizes, from the flying fox which has wings over 5 feet wide to the bumblebee bat which has a wingspan of just over 1 inch and weighs only 0.05 oz. However, their physical characteristics are all the same. They have large ears to help locate food, wings made of a membrane stretched between four bones (a bit like fingers) and with a thumb on the top of each one. They have strong claws on their feet, to hang upside down from, and furry bodies.
  
  

Range

• Bats live on all the Earth's continents except Antarctica. Most types of bat are found in the warmer parts of the planet near the equator and the tropics, but they can live anywhere as long as it is not very hot or very cold and there is enough food for them to eat. There are 46 different species that live in North America.
  
  

Homes

• Bats like to spend their day sleeping in cool, dark places. These places are called their "roosts" and bats gather together in them. Some of the places where bats make their roosts are trees, caves, underneath bridges, in abandoned mines, in old barns and even in the attics of houses. In one cave in Texas called the Bracken Cave, over 20 million bats roost every day.
  
  

Upside Down

• When they are in their homes, sleeping during the day, bats hang upside down from their feet. The reason for this is that they can unfold their wings completely before take-off. If they hung by their thumbs, they would have to let go of the ceiling before being able to spread their wings. Hanging upside-down also gives the bat a good view so it doesn't bump into any other bats when it takes off.
  
  

Echolocation

• Bats are nocturnal, meaning that they sleep in the day and come out to feed at night. Most bats, though, don't have very good eyesight, but they have another way to get around in the dark without bumping into things. It is called echolocation. The bat makes a noise with its mouth and noise. Noise travels in sound waves, and when these waves hit an object, they bounce back to the bat as an echo. From this echo, the bat can tell what the object is, how big it is and if it is moving. Bats use echolocation to avoid obstacles and to find food.
  
  

Food

• Some prefer to eat fruit. These bats help new trees grow by dropping fruit seeds in different places as they fly around. Other bats eat nectar from flowers and help move pollen from one plant to another, helping the plants to grow. Lots of bats eat other animals. Most of them eat insects, but some eat frogs or fish. And the vampire bat sucks the blood of big animals like cows.