Bats | Nature Adventure

Scroll to Learn

Biology

Bats are mammals with a very unique skill; they are the only mammals with "true wings". This means that bats can fly, just like birds!

The bones of a bat's wings actually look a bit like your own arm. They have a thumb and four long fingers, with a thin webbing of skin between them called the wing-membrane. This membrane goes all the way down their sides, giving the bat the ability of powered flight. This means that they can start flying from a standing position, and flap their wings to keep themselves in the air.

Only four types of animals have evolved to have powered flight; these are birds, bats, pterosaurs, and insects.

There are a lot of bat species; so many in fact, that the order Chiroptera (Greek for "hand-wing") makes up around 20% of all known mammal species!

Within the order Chiroptera, there are two suborders of bats: Megachiroptera, or very large bats, and Microchiroptera, the smaller bats that we see in America and most of Europe. Only the bats in Microchiroptera use echolocation to find their food. Some bats eat insects, some eat fruit, some drink pollen, and others even drink blood! With so much variation, it's no wonder that bats come in all sorts of strange and wonderful shapes.

Ecological Importance

It may surprise you, but bats are one of the most important pollinators in the desert!

Many bat species drink nectar, just like butterflies, and visit flowers that open during the night. They also eat any insects that are hiding inside the flowers, protecting them from pests.

Though they don't all have extremely long tongues like butterflies or hummingbirds, these small bats will climb inside the flower to reach its nectar, getting their faces and fur covered in pollen. By visiting many different flowers, the bat will spread this pollen around, allowing plants to reproduce and make more of themselves!

Two species of bats in Mexico, the lesser long-nosed bat and the Mexican long-tongued bat, fly to American states like Arizona, Texas and New Mexico every spring to pollinate our plants!

Over 300 types of fruit rely on bats to be pollinated, like mangoes, bananas, and guavas. Saguaro cactus and agave plants also depend on bats to reproduce!

The agave is a very important plant with a lot of uses; we can make fabric out of its fibers, eat the stems, make a sweetener from its nectar, and brew alcoholic drinks like tequila and pulque. Without bats, we would not have this plant today.

So, although bats may be scary, losing them would mean losing so many important plants and tasty fruits, too.

Did you know?

Bats have special immune systems that protect them from all kinds of viruses. This means that bats can be carriers for lots of nasty infections without getting sick. So even healthy-looking bats can pass on a virus to you, if you handle them without protection!

Though, if you don't pick up bats, your chances of getting sick from a bat are very low. Bats try to hide from people, and they avoid flying close to you in the dark. Bites from bats are rare, and usually only happen in self-defense when bats feel threatened.

Some dangerous viruses, like rabies, paralyze bats and make them seem easy to pick up. If you see a bat flying erratically, acting sick, acting really friendly, or looks like it's injured, you should NOT pick up the bat yourself. Instead, call your local Wildlife Rehabilitator for instructions and make sure that other people and animals stay away from the bat until help arrives.

Remember, bats do not want to hurt you, so you should not try to hurt them!

< Back to the desert