bats

Bats are the only mammals that can fly, but vampire bats have an even more interesting distinction—they are the only mammals that feed entirely on blood.While it is true that bats fly around at night most bats eat insects and fruit. There is one bat, the vampire bat, that seems to stick in people's heads when they think about bats. The vampire bat got this name from the creature in literature and folk tales that is an undead being who subsists on the blood of other humans. The vampire bat does drink blood as it's source of food. Vampire bats generally drink from cattle and other large herbivores and present no danger to humans
Most bats have a breeding season, which is in the spring for species living in a temperate climate. Bats may have one to three litters in a season, depending on the species and on environmental conditions, such as the availability of food and roost sites. Females generally have one offspring at a time, which could be a result of the mother's need to fly to feed while pregnant. Female bats nurse their young until they are nearly adult size, because a young bat cannot forage on its own until its wings are fully developed.
Female bats use a variety of strategies to control the timing of pregnancy and the birth of young, to make delivery coincide with maximum food ability and other ecological factors. Females of some species have delayed fertilization, in which sperm are stored in the reproductive tract for several months after mating. In many such cases, mating occurs in the fall, and fertilization does not occur until the following spring. Other species exhibit delayed implantation, in which the egg is fertilized after mating, but remains free in the reproductive tract until external conditions become favorable for giving birth and caring for the offspring.

Each summer, we hold our popular Bat Walks at the San Joaquin Wildlife Sanctuary in Irvine. Summer Bat walks are a special opportunity for you to visit the sanctuary after hours as we search for live flying bats feeding at the marsh.

Come discover first-hand that this freshwater wetland is a magical place at dusk. We begin with an indoor presentation by Stephanie Remington, a local bat biologist. We then take a short walk along the ponds to watch the sun set, listen to night sounds, and smell the fresh sage plants. The highlight is locating the two species of bats that come in small numbers to the marsh to feed.  One thing bats don’t do is get tangled in the hair, says J. Paul White, a field biologist with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. “That’s an old wives’ tale. Bats definitely will fly very close and almost hit you, but I have been in areas with 50,000 to 80,000 bats … when they are swarming and mating, and I’ve never once been hit by a bat. They are actually feeding on insects that are attracted to you. They are doing you a service.” Sonar, or “echolocation,” allows the bats to “see” in the dark, but this high-frequency sound is not audible to the human ear until it’s translated by an instrument like the one held in place by bungee cords. Five bats type Rousettus leschenaultii showed the presence of antibodies to two strains of Ebola virus in their blood Bangladesh. Bats are a known reservoir for the virus, but it is the first found in Asia outside the Philippines. No animal was infected directly. Bangladesh being threatened by the Ebola virus? Researchers centered around the NGO EcoHealth Alliance announced that some bats of this Asian country have antibodies against strains Zaire and Reston Ebola virus. No animal was infected directly but these antibodies were found in 5 of 276 mammals analyzed, 3.5% of these animals. The role of bats as reservoir filovirus is well known, but it is very rarely seen outside of Africa. Bangladesh joins Spain and the Philippines in the list of non-sub-Saharan where some bats have antibodies against filoviruses (Ebola and Marburg). Campaign capture and analysis was conducted from April 2010 to March 2011. This study is published in the February issue of Emerging Infectious Diseases Journal, published by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta diseases, popularized by the TV series The Walking Dead. Bats are mammals of the order Chiroptera (/kaɪˈrɒptərə/; from the Greek χείρ - cheir, "hand"[2] and πτερόν - pteron, "wing"[3]) whose forelimbs form webbed wings, making them the only mammals naturally capable of true and sustained flight. By contrast, other mammals said to fly, such as flying squirrels, gliding possums, and colugos, can only glide for short distances. Bats do not flap their entire forelimbs, as birds do, but instead flap their spread-out digits,[4] which are very long and covered with a thin membrane or patagium. Bats are the second largest order of mammals (after the rodents), representing about 20% of all classified mammal species worldwide, with about 1,240 bat species divided into two suborders: the less specialized and largely fruit-eating megabats, or flying foxes, and the highly specialized and echolocating microbats.[5] About 70% of bat species are insectivores. Most of the rest are frugivores, or fruit eaters. A few species, such as the fish-eating bat, feed from animals other than insects, with the vampire bats being hematophagous, or feeding on blood. Bats are present throughout most of the world, performing vital ecological roles of pollinating flowers and dispersing fruit seeds. Many tropical plant species depend entirely on bats for the distribution of their seeds. Bats are important, as they consume insect pests, reducing the need for pesticides. The smallest bat is the Kitti's hog-nosed bat, measuring 29–34 mm (1.14–1.34 in) in length, 15 cm (5.91 in) across the wings and 2–2.6 g (0.07–0.09 oz) in mass.[6][7] It is also arguably the smallest extant species of mammal, with the Etruscan shrew being the other contender.[8] The largest species of bat are a few species of Pteropus and the giant golden-crowned flying fox with a weight up to 1.6 kg (4 lb) and wingspan up to 1.7 m (5 ft 7 in).[9] Bats are vital to healthy ecosystems and human economies worldwide. As primary predators of night-flying insects, bats consume enormous quantities of agricultural pests and reduce the need for chemical pesticides. Yet these wonderfully diverse and beneficial creatures are among the least studied and most misunderstood of animals. Bats are threatened worldwide, and their colonies and habitats are destroyed - both intentionally and inadvertently - because of myths, misinformation, and lack of scientific knowledge and understanding. Bat populations are declining almost everywhere in North America especially due to the devastating White-nose Syndrome. Losing bats has far-reaching consequences for natural ecosystems and human economies. Knowledge is the key to their conservation and protection. BatsLIVE: A Distance Learning Adventure is an exciting, free education program for children in the 4-8th grades and their educators, that will bring bat conservation to life in your classroom or community. Daniel and Sharon, along with their Egyptian Fruit Bats, have been educating people about bats for over ten years. They love bats, and with their experience and knowledge, they want to educate people about these misunderstood creatures. They will be coming to our library from the Chicago suburbs of Illinois to give a multimedia presentation on bat education. Thousands of people, adults and children, have learned from Daniel and Sharon how beneficial these creatures are to the world around us. They are excited to bring their bat friends and their presentation to Park Falls and share them with all of our patrons! The Incredible Bats will be in our Auditorium on third floor, which seats about 200 people. Come early for the best seats, and get ready to learn about the many contributions that bats make to our world and environment. We are excited to have Daniel, Sharon, and the Incredible Bats visit us for our Summer Library Program, and we hope that you are excited, too! Bats are declining, due mainly to the loss of roosts and feeding areas, and the effects of the increased use of pesticides. Kent is probably under greater pressure for change to the environment than anywhere else in Britain. The Kent Bat Group has been working to help protect Kent's bats since 1983. Fourteen of Britain's 18 resident bat species have been recorded in Kent since then. Records in Kent include Alcathoe's bat which has only recently (2010) been recognised as a species in the UK and Bechstein's bat, one of the UK's rarest bats. In addition a vagrant, the greater mouse-eared bat was found in 1985. The Kent Bat Group is proactive in promoting awareness of bats, to the general public and to specialist groups likely to come across bats in their work.