Bats have received a bad reputation as being blood suckers, carriers of disease and "flying rats," All of these descriptions are wrong and fail to grasp the beauty, wonder and benefits of bats.
There are over 40 species of bats in the United States and all of them are beneficial to people. Most bats feed on insect pests and some bats even help in pollination. Scientists study bats to further expand our understanding of flight, sound, sonar and evolutionary biology. Even bat guano is an important resource and fertilizer! So before you tell scary stories about bats, remember how much they help make our lives better every day!
Bats are the only mammals that can fly. Instead of arms or hands, they have wings. The wings have a bone structure similar to the human hand. Between the bones are flaps of skin.
Bats have fur on their bodies and sometimes the head. The wings do not have fur. Bats can be a range of colors from red to tan, brown or gray.
A bat's ears are very important because bats use them to hunt food. The ears tend to be large and noticeable. Many times the ears will stick up on the side of the head. The Allen's big-eared bat has ears so long that they make up two thirds of its body length!
A bat's nose can be very useful characteristic for identifying a bat species. Some are small and simple, others are shaped like a pig's nose and some even have noses shaped like leaves.
Insect-eating bats hunt using a type of natural sonar called echolocation. They emit a high-frequency sound (undetectable to people) that bounces off of surrounding objects. When a sound hits an object, or better-yet an insect, it bounces back and returns to the bat. Using special sensory organs, the bat can determine where the insect is located and how far away. Everything happens so quickly that a bat can make almost instant turns and maneuvers to catch a flying insect. A bat's echolocation system is so advanced and precise that scientists study bats to make sonar equipment for ships.
Source: http://www.nwf.org/wildlife/wildlife-library/mammals/bats.aspx
