BATS

BATS

                       

With almost 1,000 species bats are the second largest order of mammals after the rodents. They are the only mammals that can truly fly. The name given to their order is Chiroptera, meaning "hand wings". When bats are resting, they hang upside-down.Most bats are nocturnal. They eat a variety of food, which they find either by scent and sight, as fruit bats do, or by using sound waves,a peocess called echolocation, as insect eating bats do.

            Bats are divided into two groups.These are the Megachiroptera or Megabats, which are the old world fruit bats and the Microchiroptera or Microbats, someimes called insect-eating bats.

Megabats

Fruit bats or megabats, are also sometimes called Flying foxes. They live in the tropical and subtropical parts of Africa, Asia and Australasia. Most megabats eat fruits, nectar and pollen.

Microbats

 

The term insect-eaing bats is a misleading name for these bats. Many feed on fruits, meat, fish, pollen, and even blood, as well as insects. Microbats live in both temperate and tropical regions, but in cooler climates they hibernate or migrate for the winter.