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Small and furry, bats are the only mammals to have achieved powered flight.

Their arms are spindly, with membranes stretched between the fingers on each hand.

Despite their resemblance to rodents, bats are not closely related to mice at all. Though their exact placement is still uncertain, there is recent evidence that they may be more closely related to the primates.

There are more than 1,000 species of bats in the world! They live on every continent of the world, except Antarctica. Bats do not live in areas where it is very hot or very cold, and there are some remote islands that are not home to bats.

Bats are mammals. They account for more than 25 percent of all the mammals on the earth! Bats are the only mammals that can fly.

Mother bats have one baby in their litter. The baby bats are called “pups.” When a pup is born, it usually has no hair and its eyes are closed. It clings to the mother bat and drinks milk from her. When the pup is about four months old, it learns to fly.

Vampire bats, the only mammals to feed exclusively on blood, including human blood, recognize their prey by the sound of its breathing.

Vampire bats feed on the same prey over several nights

bats use breathing sounds to identify their prey in the same way as humans use voice to recognise each other.

the only mammals naturally capable of flight

Bats are mammals

Megabats eat fruit, nectar or pollen

Bats often make people think of vampires, creatures of the night, and Halloween. Beyond the myth and folklore, bats are one of the most important groups of animals.

Bats are mammals that belong to the order Chiroptera (ky-rop-tera), which means, "winged hand". The wings or hands of a bat have very long finger bones covered by a strong skin. Bats are the only mammals that can fly. Like all mammals, they are "warm-blooded", have bodies covered with fur, and nurse their young (pups) with milk.

Nearly all bats are helpful animals. In fact, tropical rainforests could not survive without bats. Bats are responsible for controlling pest insect populations, pollinating flowers, and dispersing seeds.

The order of these genes on the sex chromosomes of cats more closely resembles that of humans than of any other mammal studied so far, the team reports in a recent issue of Genome Research. Genes on X chromosomes of cats and people are lined up in the same way.

One unique feature of bats is their modified forelimbs, which support a wing membrane (patagium). The basic elements of the mammalian limb are present in bats, although the relative sizes of most bones and muscles differ from those of nonflying mammals. The most elongated parts of the limb are those of the hand (metacarpal bones) and fingers (phalanges). The primary functions of these bones in bats is to provide support for the patagium and control its movements.

Numerous blood vessels and nerves are present throughout the wing membrane. Bats also have five unique muscles present in the patagium, and use additional muscles in the chest and back to move the wings up and down.

The most obvious difference between bird wings and those of bats is that bird wings are made of feathers, not a skin membrane. Birds have an elongated arm, but do not have elongated fingers like bats. Additionally, the muscles used in both the upstroke and downstroke are found in the chest of birds, while the upstroke muscles are on the back in bats (Fenton, 1983).

THE second order of mammals includes the Bats, or Chiroptera, literally hand-winged animals

As in the Primates, in which order the Bats were formerly included, there are four kinds of teeth, incisors, canines, premolars, and molars, the milk-set being followed by the permanent.

Bats are one of the most prolific forms of mammals with over 900 species living in the world and making up over 20% of all mammals.

Most U.S. bats eat insects. A single bat can eat up to 1,200 mosquitoes in one hour.

Bats like to come out to eat at night around dusk. Bats flight pattern is much more erratic than birds so look for this pattern.

The bat is more closely related to primates.

Bats are fantastic fliers. They are able to truly fly. Bats are the only mammals able to have powered flight.

A bat's body is made for flight. The neck is short, the chest is large and the stomach is narrow. In order to fly a body must have a wide, thin surface. It also needs the power to push through the air.

largest monitor lizard or goanna native to Australia

fourth largest lizard on earth

Found west of the Great Dividing Range in the arid areas of Australia

The round-Snouted head and neck are usually darker than he body (glossy black in winter, dark brown in summer). The eye is of average size with a blackish brown iris.

The back, sides and tail may be buff-grey to greyish brown, buff-brown, brown or reddish dark brown

shelters in rat burrows

prey of wolves are large hoofed mammals, including deer, moose, elk, caribou, bison, musk-oxen, and mountain sheep. Beaver is eaten when available. In summer a variety of smaller foods, such as small rodents and berries, supplement the diet. Animals killed are usually young, old, or otherwise weaker members of their populations because they are easiest to capture.

a forked tongue, long slender neck, flattened head, strong tail, powerful legs with 5 clawed toes and numerous sharp-curved backward-pointing teeth.

Perenties can be found living in arid regions from Western Queensland to coastal Western Australia, usually around rocky hills and outcrops.

turtle eggs, insects, birds, other reptiles (including juvenile Perenties), mammals and carrion. On some of the islands they are often seen scavenging on the beaches for carrion, turtle eggs and almost anything that moves!

After rodents, bats are the most numerous mammals on earth.

Males have a bright orange ruff and wings are black, which contrast with the tawny body fur.

African bats fall into two major categories large fruit bats and smaller, insect-eating bats, none of which attack people.

The dingo is legendary as Australia's wild dog, though it also occurs in Southeast Asia. The Australian animals may be descendents of Asian dingoes that were introduced to the continent some 3,000 to 4,000 years ago. These golden or reddish-colored canids may live alone (especially young males) or in packs of up to ten animals. They roam great distances and communicate with wolf-like howls. Dingo hunting is opportunistic. Animals hunt alone or in cooperative packs. They pursue small game such as rabbits, rodents, birds, and lizards. These dogs will eat fruits and plants as well. They also scavenge from humans, particularly in their Asian range.

More has been published about the extinction of dinosaurs at the K-T boundary than any other group of organisms. Excluding a few controversial claims, it is agreed that all non-avian dinosaurs went extinct at the K-T boundary. The dinosaur fossil record has been interpreted to show both a decline in diversity and no decline in diversity during the last few million years of the Cretaceous, and it may be that the quality of the dinosaur fossil record is simply not good enough to permit researchers to distinguish between the choices.[54] Since there is no evidence that late Maastrichtian nonavian dinosaurs could burrow, swim or dive, they were unable to shelter themselves from the worst parts of any environmental stress that occurred at the K-T boundary. It is possible that small dinosaurs (other than birds) did survive, but they would have been deprived of food as both herbivorous dinosaurs would have found plant material scarce, and carnivores would have quickly found prey to be in short supply.[35] The growing consensus about the endothermy of dinosaurs (see dinosaur physiology) helps to understand their full extinction in contrast with their close relatives, the crocodilians. Cold-blooded crocodiles have very limited needs of food (they can survive several months without eating) while warm-blooded animals of similar size need much more food in order to sustain their faster metabolism. Thus, under the circumstancies of food chain disruption above mentioned, non-avian dinosaurs died [55] while some crocodiles survived. In this context, the survival of other endothermic animals, such as some birds and mammals, could be due, among other

the bat’s wing anatomically resembles the human hand

Almost 1,000 bat species can be found worldwide.

70% of bats consume insects.