![]() ![]() If humans interact with bats, these traits become potentially dangerous to humans. Due to their physiology, bats are one type of animal that acts as a natural reservoir of many pathogens, such as rabies and since they are highly mobile, social, and long-lived, they can readily spread disease among themselves. However, fruit bats are frequently considered pests by fruit growers. They are sometimes numerous enough and close enough to human settlements to serve as tourist attractions, and they are used as food across Asia and the Pacific Rim. Bats consume insect pests, reducing the need for pesticides and other insect management measures. Bat dung has been mined as guano from caves and used as fertiliser. They are important in their ecosystems for pollinating flowers and dispersing seeds many tropical plants depend entirely on bats for these services.īats provide humans with some direct benefits, at the cost of some disadvantages. Bats are present throughout the world, with the exception of extremely cold regions. Most bats are nocturnal, and many roost in caves or other refuges it is uncertain whether bats have these behaviours to escape predators. A few species feed on animals other than insects for example, the vampire bats feed on blood. Many bats are insectivores, and most of the rest are frugivores (fruit-eaters) or nectarivores (nectar-eaters). But more recent evidence has supported dividing the order into Yinpterochiroptera and Yangochiroptera, with megabats as members of the former along with several species of microbats. These were traditionally divided into two suborders: the largely fruit-eating megabats, and the echolocating microbats. The second largest order of mammals after rodents, bats comprise about 20% of all classified mammal species worldwide, with over 1,400 species. The largest bats are the flying foxes, with the giant golden-crowned flying fox ( Acerodon jubatus) reaching a weight of 1.6 kg ( 3 + 1⁄ 2 lb) and having a wingspan of 1.7 m (5 ft 7 in). The smallest bat, and arguably the smallest extant mammal, is Kitti's hog-nosed bat, which is 29–34 millimetres ( 1 + 1⁄ 8– 1 + 3⁄ 8 inches) in length, 150 mm (6 in) across the wings and 2–2.6 g ( 1⁄ 16– 3⁄ 32 oz) in mass. ![]() Bats are more agile in flight than most birds, flying with their very long spread-out digits covered with a thin membrane or patagium. With their forelimbs adapted as wings, they are the only mammals capable of true and sustained flight. Bats are mammals of the order Chiroptera ( / k ˈ aɪ r ə p t ɛ r ə/). ![]()
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