JessiccaFact: Bats
March 1st 2007 09:19
A bat is any member of the order Chiroptera, the only mammal to have evolved true, sustained flight. Their flying ability and system of acoustic orientation (bat sonar) have allowed the many species of bat to flourish; about 1,000 are currently recognized, belonging to some 174 genera, and a single species can number in the hundreds of millions of individuals at the very least.
These nocturnal mouselike quadrupeds have fingers extended to support a thin membrane which stretches from the side of the neck to the tail, forming a kind of wing with which they fly in a peculiar quivering motion.
Bumblebee bat
The word may be related to Latin blatta "an insect that shuns the light." Bats live in roosts and a group of bats is called a colony. A brown bat can eat up to 1,000 mosquitoes in an hour, while the bumblebee bat of Thailand is one of the world's smallest mammals, weighing about two grams.
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