Transcript Busy with Bats - everettsd.org

Busy with Bats
By: Anna W. & Grace E.
The Awesome People Inc.
Bat Species
There are many species. Over 1,000! Here are seven of them:
 You can recognize the Vampire Bat by it’s muzzle which is flat, it can also
walk, hop, and jump.
 The Little Brown Bat is 7-10 cm. It has dark brown fur, and it’s tail lacks
fur.
 Fruit Bat, is 2 inches, has black wings and reddish/brown fur.
 The Little Red Flying Fox has reddish/brown fur and wings and can be
found in Australia.
 Bumblebee Bat: This bat is an endangered species and with reddish fur
and a piggy like nose, it is so cute!
 The Indiana Bat it is 2 in. and native to North America! It also has a
pinkish nose and mates in the fall.
 Spotted Bat has large ears, pink wings, and can be very territorial.
Habitats
The place a bat lives is called a roost. Their most natural place for a bat to
live is in trees and caves . Sometimes abandoned mine shafts offer the
right environment for bats to colonize. Under bridges is another common
location for bats to be found. This offers them the idea environment and
they are free from predators. They don’t have to worry about too much
disruption from humans in such an area either. They will roost under large
trees that have full branches and leaves in many areas. These trees help
them to stay well hidden from an array of predators.
Diet
Bats feed mainly on insects, using their echolocation ability to find flying or crawling
insects and their superb flying skills to catch them. This involves gathering prey in
their wing or tail membranes, and transferring it to their mouths mid-flight! Insecteating bats are supremely good at what they do - a single little brown bat can catch
and eat 600 mosquitoes in an hour! Other bats feed on some fish, frogs, lizards, small
rodents, small birds, and even other, smaller bats and while bats have a reputation
for sucking blood, only three out of the thousand or so species of bat actually feed on
blood. Vampire bats usually feed on livestock, although humans may occasionally be
unwitting blood donors. They make a small, painless incision in the skin and lap up
the blood with their tongues while anti-coagulant chemicals in their saliva ensure
that the blood meal continues flowing. And yet, there are the fruit bats that eat fruit,
flowers, pollen, and even nectar. YUM! What a good healthy meal!
70% of bats consume insects, sharing a
large part of natural pest control. There are
also fruit-eating bats; nectar-eating bats;
carnivorous bats that prey on small
mammals, birds, lizards and frogs; fisheating bats, and perhaps most famously,
the blood-sucking vampire bats of South
America.
Bat Myths
BATS ARE WORTHLESS ANIMALS! NO!
Bats are very, very helpful! They help control the insect population, reseed cut forests,
and pollinate plants that provide food for humans. Bats also taught us about sonar.
OTHER MAMMALS CAN FLY LIKE BATS, RIGHT? NO!
Some mammals, like the flying squirrels can glide, but bats are the only mammals
that can really fly. There are many different ways bats fly. Some can hover like
hummingbirds while feeding on nectar, and a few flying foxes can soar in the air like
eagles.
BATS ARE FLYING MICE, RIGHT?NO!
While both bats and mice are mammals, bats are not rodents and are more closely
related to primates and people. Besides...mice can't fly!
DO BATS GET CAUGHT IN YOUR HAIR? NO!
If bats can find tiny insects in total darkness, would they
get tangled up in your hair? No! They are much too smart to fly
into people.
Bat Pics.
Spotted Bat
The Painted Bat
White Fruit Bat
A colony of bats
Virginia Big-Eared Bat Colony
Striped Bat
Short Nosed
Fruit Bat
The Indiana Bat
The Vampire Bat
The Tent Making Bat
Websites we used
https://www.google.com/search?q=wrong+sign&espv=2&biw=950&bih=934
&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0CAYQ_AUoAWoVChMIiOjGoZXUyAI
VUvtjCh2kMgUs#tbm=isch&q=bats&imgrc=dUlpu3mHmHP8BM%3A
http://www.defenders.org/bats/bats
Thank You for Watching!
And if you haven’t already, please go and check out
our Kahoot Quiz called “Busy with Bats”, also!