Introduction to the Bats 2025

BATS!

Stuff you never knew about Bats

Poll

Are you afraid of bats?

• No

• Yes

"Humans possess an evolutionary predisposition to fear bats—likely due to their nocturnal nature and historical association with zoonotic diseases (like rabies or Ebola). However, bats are also keystone species essential for pest control and pollination. Discuss the consequences of this biological conflict: How does our evolutionary 'gut reaction' against bats complicate modern conservation efforts? In your opinion, does the risk of bats as disease vectors outweigh their ecological services, or is our fear scientifically 'outdated'?" (WRITE YOUR THOUGHTS AS WE WILL COME BACK TO IT AT THE END)

PAIR SHARE

You think this over and write on your Warm Up sheet. Then turn and talk with your seat partner about what you wrote. Share your thoughts and prepare to answer if called on.

Is it a bird…?

• Are bats featherless birds?

• We now know that bats are mammals,

just like people.

• But bats are very special mammals. They

are the only mammals that can fly.

If you said NO, you are

100% CORRECT!

How do we know they are

mammals?

• Bats are warm

blooded

• Bats nurse their

babies with milk

• Bats have fur

Where in the world are Bats

found?

• Bats live on all continents except Antarctica.
• However, they are many more bats and

species of bats where the weather is warm,
like near the equator or the southern United
States.

Bat Senses

• Are bats really blind?

• Bats can see perfectly well during the day.

The only problem is, they hunt at night!

• To make up for this, bats have the best

hearing of all land mammals.

NO!

Bat Wings

• Bat wings are made of two

thin layers of skin
stretched over the bat's
arm and fingers. Bats have
a thumb and fingers, just
like people!

• Bats use their wings for

more than just flying, they
can wrap their wings
around fruit or an insect
when eating.

Multiple Choice

What actually are bat wings?

• Their hands, made up of fingers and thumbs.

• Patagium.

• Skin stretched out over arm bones

Echolocation

• Instead of relying on their sense of

sight to navigate in the dark and find
food, bats make rapid high-pitched
squeaks called "ultrasounds". These
sounds are too high for most people to
hear.

Open Ended

Do you think bats can see a moth under a leaf if they are flying above the leaf? Turn and talk with your seat partner and share your thoughts of why you said yes or no.

Echolocation

• When the sound hits

an object an echo
comes back. The bat
can identify an object
by the sound of the
echo. They can even
tell the size, shape
and texture of a tiny
insect from its echo.

Echolocation

• Many bats eat while they

are flying, and this makes it
difficult for some bats to
make the squeaks out of
their mouths.

• Therefore, many bats use

echolocation out their
noses. These bats have
special flaps and folds of
skin on their faces called
"nose leaves“.

A bat with nose leaves

Multiple Choice

Why do insectivorous bats have such huge ears and nose leaves?

• To attract females.

• To signal other bats.

• To get rid of heat in warm climates such as deserts.

• More surface area to help locate and catch prey.

Species of Bats

• The world's smallest mammal is

the bumblebee bat weighing
about as much as a penny.

• The Golden crowned flying fox, with
a wingspan of 76 inches is the worlds
largest bat.

• There are over 900 different

species of bats -- they make up
one fifth of the world's
mammals.

• Bats are grouped into two main

groups: megabats and
microbats.

Multiple Choice

• giant bat

• Golden crowned flying fox

Micro Bats

• Micro bats are small bats that eat

insects, blood, fish, lizards, birds and
nectar.

• Micro bats can echolocate, and account

for most the bats found all over the
world.

Multiple Choice

Worlds smallest bat is the

• bumblebee bat
• fruit bat
• vampire bat
• giant flying fox

Multiple Choice

Micro bat or mega bat?

• Mega bat
• Micro bat

Multiple Choice

Micro bat or mega bat?

• Micro bat

• Mega bat

Mega Bats

• Mega bats are large fruit

eating bats, also known as
flying foxes.

• They eat fruit and live in

tropical regions of the
world.

• Many important agricultural

plants, like bananas,
mangoes and cashews rely
on bats for pollination and
seed dispersal.

Vampire Bats!

• The vampire bat is the only bat (and the

only mammal) that eats only blood.

Vampire Bats

• Contrary to popular belief, a vampire

bat does not suck blood from its victim,
but makes an incision and laps the
blood up, which doesn't clot because of
anti-coagulants in the bat's saliva.

Is it true that vampire bats suck

your blood?

If you said NO,
congratulations!

Bat Behavior

• Bats hunt and eat

at night and sleep
during the day.

• Therefore, bats are

called…

Nocturnal!

Bat Behavior

• They are very

sociable, as they
usually sleep together
in large groups.

• How do bats sleep?

If you said upside
down, give yourself a
pat on the back!

Where do Bats roost?

• Some bats may find old

mines and set up their
colony there.

• Tiny woolly bats of West

Africa live in the large webs
of spiders.

• The Honduran white bat

cuts large leaves to make
"tents" that protect its
colonies from jungle rains.

Honduran white bats

What is one place we are
forgetting?

Bat Caves!

• Some caves may be home to thousands of bats.
• The largest bat colony in the world is in Bracken

Cave, Texas. During the summer, this cave is home
to as many as 20 MILLION Mexican free-tailed bats.

• These bats eat 250 tons of insects every night.

City Bats?

• Bats that might have typically lived in caves have

begun to adapt to urban life by modifying their
behavior to live in man made structures in the city.

• The largest urban colony is under the Congress

Avenue Bridge in Austin, Texas, home to about 1.5
million bats.

Bat Babies

• After hibernation, the female bats start

having baby bats. Do you know what they are
called?

• Bats usually only have one baby at a time,

but sometimes they have twins!

• The pups are tiny when born, but can usually

fly a month after birth.

Bat pups!

Bat Babies

• The pups are born with strong legs and

claws because they have to hang on to the
mother when she's roosting and to the cave
when she's not there.

• If the baby looses its grip and falls, it will

die.

Mother bat taking care of
babies

Multiple Choice

Baby bats are called

• kits

• batlings

• pups

Bat Enemies

• Predators of bats include Great Horned

Owls, hawks, falcons, raccoons, house cats,
and snakes.

• But who is the greatest predator of all?

Humans, because they destroy
the bats’ habitat.

Bats and Rabies

• Less than ½ of 1% of bats carry rabies.
• Fewer than 40 people in the United

States are known to have contracted
rabies from bats during the past 40
years.

• Far more people are killed by dog

attacks, bee stings, or lightning than
rabies from bats.

Multiple Choice

Micro bat or mega bat?

• Mega bat

• Micro bat

How dangerous are they?

Given: 2 people die in the U.S. each year from bat bites
Given: 400,000 people in the United States die each year

due to smoking-related illnesses

How many times greater chance that a person in a

morgue has died from smoking than from being bitten
by a rabid bat?

Should we fear cigarettes or bats more?
Hint: Compare the number of people who die from bat

bites to those who die from smoking. Make sure to
reduce!

vs.

RR-58.0

Multiple Choice

The mammals that most commonly carry rabies are

• foxes, raccoons and skunks

• bats and rats

• bats, opossums and raccoons

• bats, foxes and dogs

Open Ended

Are bats useful? Why?

Multiple Choice

Micro bat or mega bat>

• Mega bat

• Micro bat

Poll

Has today's lesson changed your mind on bats?

• Yes

• No

LAUNCH

What we do not understand, we fear. What we fear we destroy.
Cheif Dan George Tsliel-Wautuh Nation

Open Ended

So.....what does this passage mean about bats? Do you think it is true?

BATS: Classification

MAMMALS

■ HAVE HAIR/FUR

■ NURSE YOUNG

■ LIVE YOUNG

■ ENDOTHERMIC

Multiple Choice

What does endothermic mean?

• cold blooded

• warm blooded

• slime gun from Ghost Busters

CHIROPTERA

■ CHIRO=HAND

■ PTERA-WING

■ 2 SUB ORDERS

▪ MEGACHIROPTERA
▪ MICROCHIROPTERA

CLASSIFICATION

■ KINGDOM: ANIMALIA

■ PHYLUM: CHORDATA

■ CLASS: MAMMALIA

■ ORDER: CHIROPTERA (mega or micro)

■ FAMILY: 18 (1 mega 17 micro)

■ GENUS:

■ SPECIES:

Multiple Choice

The order Chiroptera literally means

• back ache

• hand wing

• large eared

Megabats

■ 1 family, 170 species

■ Tropics/subtropics

■ Frugivores

■ Nectarivores

■ Insectivores

■ Food located by sight/smell

■ Very well developed eyes

■ Wingspans up to 6 feet

Characteristics of Megabats

■ Large Eyes

■ Small Ears

■ Large noses

Microbats

■ 17 FAMILIES 780 SPECIES

■ MORE DIVERSE THAN MEGABATS

■ FOUND WORLDWIDE EXCEPT POLAR

REGIONS

■ USE ECHOLOCATION TO NAVIGATE

IN DARK FOR FOOD

■ INSECTIVORES, SOME

CARNIVORES/NECTARIVORES

■ 3 SPECIES EAT BLOOD

(SANGIVORES)

Multiple Choice

The word that means to eat blood is

• vampirism

• sangivore

• sengi

• nectarivore

Multiple Choice

Frugivore means

• To eat vegetables

• To eat fruit

• To eat insects.

• To eat frogs.

CHARACTERISTICS OF MICROBATS

■ SMALL EYES

■ SPECIALIZED/LARGE

EARS

■ NOSE LEAVES

OF ALL BATS IN THE WORLD:

■ 2/3 EAT INSECTS

■ 1/3 EAT NECTAR

■ 1% EAT FROGS, MICE, FISH, SMALL

INVERTS

■ < 1/3 OF 1% ARE VAMPIRE

Can you differentiate

between megachiroptera

and microchiroptera?

Multiple Choice

This is a

• mega bat

• micro bat

Multiple Choice

• Mega bat

• Micro bat

LAUNCH

• "If you talk to the animals they will talk with you and you will know each other. If you do not talk to them you will not know them and what you do not know, you will fear. What one fears, one destroys." — Chief Dan George, Tsleil-Waututh Nation

LAUNCH

• "If you talk to the animals they will talk with you and you will know each other. If you do not talk to them you will not know them and what you do not know, you will fear. What one fears, one destroys." — Chief Dan George, Tsleil-Waututh Nation