bat
a bat in flight
a kind of animal – mammal – a mouse-like animal that can fly; lives on insects and fruit; about 1,100 species (kinds) with different names, sizes and weights; the two common broad types or categories are: microbats and megabats – microbats (70 % of the total) live on insects by echolocation (sending very high pitch sounds and receiving their echoes, like sonar system); megabats (most of the rest) live on fruit and the pollen and nectar (honey) of flowers by smell and vision; lives for about 20 years; found all over the world, except at the Poles
a bat hanging upside down, the usual resting position
Some common names of the bats: big brown bat, bulldog bat; free-tailed bat, fruit bat; Gould’s wattled bat, greater horseshoe bat; leaf-nosed bat; lesser horseshoe bat, long-tailed bat; mastiff bat, mustached bat; Natterer’s bat, nectar bat; Ozark big-eared bat; Pallid bat; red bad; spotted bat, spectral bat, sucker-footed bat; Tongo Africa bat; Vampire bat. {This list of names can go on and on…}
(a bat finding its prey using ‘echo location’)
female ~~ female
baby ~~ pup
group ~~ (adults) colony; (babies) roost, nursery
voice (call) ~~ (sound which we can hear) squeak; (sound which we cannot hear – ultrasonic) pulse
Everything about bats is special: It is the only mammal (giving birth to live babies and feeding the babies with their milk) that can fly. The front two feet are modified with skin membrane which spread out like wings of a bird. Though there are other mammals that fly, they do not fly in the real sense; they do not flap their wings like birds do — they only jump long distances in the air or glide. 70 percent of the species (kinds) catch insects while flying by echolocation, which means sending ‘click, click’ sounds called ‘ultrasonic rays’ (which people or other animals cannot hear) and receiving the echoes, just like sending and receiving radar or sonar signals – if the echo is felt, the bat knows that there is some insect in the way and if the echo is not felt that means there is no insect or object in the way. Most of the rest of the kinds (about 200 species) live on fruit and flowers. Bats are one of a very few animals that sleep or rest hanging upside down! The Vampire bat is the only bat that lives entirely on the blood of other animals. [sucks blood by making small holes in the sleeping or sick animals or sucks the blood form the wounds already made by some other animals] There are some bats that live on fish. In Central America there are some bats that catch the fish swimming close to the surface with their claws. The bumble bee bat or Kitti’s hog-nosed bat is the smallest of the bats with 1.14 to 1.30 inches (29 to 33 millimetres) in wingspan length and weighing just 2 grams. The Giant golden-crowned flying fox (bat) is the biggest with a wing span of 5 feet (1.5 m) weighing about 1.5 Kg. The red bat is the world’s hardiest flying mammal, and is the only bat to have more than two babies in a litter (at the same time). Bats are eaten by people in some parts of the world!
batty = mad 2. bat-eyed = near-sighted (said of someone whose eye-sight is bad) 3. to catch a bat = to leave (a place or person); to go away; to depart 4. as blind as a bat [said jokingly of a person whose eye-sight is bad] 5. as sleepy as a bat 6. (to go) like a bat out of hell = to do something or to go away from a place very, very fast; to show quick action without much thought 7. to hang together like bats in a steeple (‘steeple’ = a tall tower on a church or temple) 8. to have bats in the belfry = to be crazy; to have strange ideas (‘belfry’ = bell tower of a building) BC Kumar, an English Language Teacher, taught in numerous countries including Ethiopia, Oman and India, shares his knowledge and passion for the English Language.
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Virginia big-eared bat is the state animal of Virginia, a state in the USA.
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About the Author:BC Kumar
