Despite gaining a bad rep from vampire stories and an occasional case of rabies, bats are amazing animals. Celebrate this marvelous winged mammal with your kids by sharing these fun facts, batty books, a bat craft and touring a bat cave!
Did you know?
• Bats are the only mammals able to fly. Their wings are thin, giving them what’s called, in flight terms, “airfoil.” The power that bats have to push forward is called propulsion.
• A single brown bat can catch about 1,200 mosquito-sized insects in one hour.
• Vampire bats don’t suck blood. They lap it up.
• Fewer than 10 people in the last 50 years have contracted rabies from North American bats. Bats generally avoid people, and not all bats carry disease. If you are bitten by a bat, see a doctor, but you’ll probably be fine.
• Bats use echolocation to get around in the dark. They don’t see well and are awake at night, so they rely on navigational methods other than sight. Bats send beeps and listen for variations in the echoes that bounce back at them.
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