๐ฆ Animal world ๐ Mammals
The bat
๐ In short
The bat is the only mammal that can truly fly! Its body is covered in fur, and its wings are made of thin, stretchy skin spread between the long fingers of its hands. It sleeps by day in caves and dark places, and comes out at night.
๐คฉ Did you know?
- Some bats live between 15 and 25 years.
- There are more than 1000 kinds of bats in the world.
- The world's smallest bat has a nose like a pig's and weighs less than a coin.
- Most bats feed their babies milk for one to 3 months.
๐ Find out more
๐ Sleeping upside down
A bat hangs by its feet from a cave roof or a branch, head down, wraps itself in its wings and sleeps. When it wants to fly it lets go, drops, then spreads its wings.
๐ Seeing with its ears
In the dark a bat makes very high sounds we can't hear, which bounce off things and come back to its ears. From this echo it knows where insects and walls are, as if it sees with its ears.
๐ก Helpful bats
Many bats eat thousands of mosquitoes and insects every night; some eat fruit and spread its seeds, and some pollinate flowers like bees.
๐ฏ Mother and baby
A mother bat usually has one baby and feeds it her milk; it sometimes clings to her as she flies, until it grows up and learns to fly.
๐ธ More pictures
๐งฉ Test yourself
1 How does a bat sleep?
2 How does a bat find its way in the dark?
3 Most bats feed their babies milk for one to ?? months.
4 Which picture shows โThe batโ?
๐ฆ Discover more
๐ท Picture sources: Wikimedia Commons
- Charles J. Sharp ยท CC BY-SA 3.0
- Kalyan Choudhury ยท CC BY-SA 4.0
- Aditya Joshi ยท CC BY-SA 3.0
- David Dennis ยท CC BY-SA 2.0
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