Bats get a really bad rap but some are awfully cute and they are helpful to us humans. So give them a chance since they are quite amazing little creatures. There are over 900 types of bats.
Fishing Bats
They can be found in Cuba all the way to Northern Argentina. They have long and strong hind feet with sharp claws that they use to catch fish. They hardly ever go out during the day so do their fishing at night.
Frog-Eating Bats
Around the mouth are small bumpy protrusions that look like skin teeth. They warn the bat when it encounters a poisonous toad.
Bird-And-Mouse-Eating Bats
The False Vampire is almost two feet wide when its wings are spread out. They have large, erect ears and a long nose with almost no tail. It tends to be pale.
Giant Spear Nosed and False Vampire Bat
The Spear nose bat usually eats insects and nectar but it also eats other meat when available. They have a wingspan of thirty inches.
Vampires-The Desmodus
The Desmodus is a small brown bat found only in the American Tropics. A furry bat with pointy ears and a weird face. Its wingspan is about fifteen inches. They have soft pads at the wrists and have no tail. The two front teeth are long, curved, and really sharp. The canines are also small but the back feet are really small and virtually useless. They feed off almost any warm blooded animal it can find like: cattle, horses, dogs, and birds. They sometimes drink human blood if people are sleeping outside. The blood drinking isn't the real danger but the diseases they could carry like rabies.
Common Bat
From the tail to the nose it is about the size of a match. It has a round head with triangular ears with a chubby body. Its fur is reddish brown that fades to gray underneath with paler highlights around the head and ears. When its wings are spread out they look like the wings of a butterfly.
Long-Eared Bat
The ears which look like a rabbit's are the same size as its head and body combined. They are longer than any other mammal proportionally. Its fur is a pale golden color. It's isn't likely to bite.
Water Bat
It has very thick short fur that is a warm brown on top. It is paler on the bottom.
Nattarer's Bats
They are pretty small with two colored coats: silvery white tummies and drab grayish brown on top. The long ears have a slight curl at the tip. Their partly hairless faces have glands on each side of their lips which gives it a kittenish look.
Batty Addresses
Bat Conservation International, Ince
PO Box 162603
Austin, TX 78726-2603
To get a copy of the batalogue
Bat Groups of Britain (Sales)
10 Bedford Cottages
Great Brington, Northhampton, NN7 4JE
Newsletter: SASE
The Young Batwork
The Editor
5 Manor Rd
Tankerton, White Stable Kent CT5 2JT
