HERNANDEZ,+KIMBERLY+V

=//__Bats__//=

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=__//**Introduction**//__= ==Bats are among the most beautiful and gentle animals on earth. They are vital to the ecosystem and enhance our lives in many ways. Insect eating bats eat millions of bugs nightly, and fruit bats bring us approximately 450 commercial products. Yet for all they do, bats are continually killed due to the myths, superstitioin and fear. The life expectancy of a single bat exceeds 20 years, but slow birth rateslimit there population growth. When just 5 bats needlessly killed, a potential 100 years animal life is destroyed.== = = =//__Scientific Classification__//=

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Genus Species: 180 genera, 900 species
=__//Facts//__=

4. Just one insectivorous bat can eat 600 or more mosquitoes in a single hour.
= = =__//Ecology & Conversation//__= ===Fruit and nectar-eating bats are among the most important seed dispersers and pollinators or tropical rain forest trees and plants. Many economically important crops such as bananas, avocados, vanilla, and peaches are dependent upon bats for pollination. Bats are valuable subjects for scientists and medical studies. Insectivorous bats are essential in controlling mosquito populations. Bats guano is a rich source of saltpeter (potassium nitrate) which is used in the production of gun powder and explosives and is an excellent fertilizer.=== =//__Diet & Eating Habits__//=

The almost 1000 species of bats that eat all types of food. The group of microbats mostly eat small flying night bugs like mosquitoes, moths and others. The megabats mostly eat ripe fruit found in the rainforests. There are other bats that eat strange food such as frogs, fish, scorpions, and plant nectar. It is amazing the different types of foods that bats eat. The picture at the left is a nectar eating bat feeding from a hummingbird feeder.

=//__Related Animals__//=

Bats are also similair to Eidolon, Malaya Flying Fox, Common Vampire Bat, Short Tailed Fruit Bat they all look the same but are a diffrent type of bat.

=__//Where Do They Live?//__= Most bats are nocturnal. They fly and forage for their food (bugs) at night. This means that they need safe places to sleep during the day. Caves provide the kind of protected shelter in which bats can thrive. Hanging from the ceiling of a cave, bats are out of reach of most of their enemies. Some of the most successful species of bats live in large cave colonies. Some of these colonies have millions of members, even up to 20 million! Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico once had 7-8 million, but now has about 1 million. So, why don't bats fly into things at night? They use echolocation to locate food and avoid obstacles. They have the ability to create and hear noises that humans cannot hear. The sound waves bounce off of objects and back to the bat, which can then judge the size and distance of the object. These subsonic noises vary in length and pulse frequency, and are unique to the individual. Each bat recognizes its own pulse reflections, or "voice," and uses it to avoid objects and to identify food. Most bat colonies leave their caves more or less together, in large groups after dark. Before leaving they fly around inside, preparing for departure. Flying around with thousands of other bats inside a cave creates a chaotic amount of noise! The bats simply ignore their personal navigation systems inside the caves. The echolocators are on, but the bats aren't listening. If you suddenly appeared in their cave among the flying bats, they would crash into you. The famous bat expert, Dr. Donald. R. Griffin, called this phenomenon the "Andrea Doria effect." The Andrea Doria sank when it crashed into another ship out in the middle of the Atlantic ocean. When bats are paying attention to their sonar signals, they can navigate without crashing into things. They can identify and capture food while it is moving. The echolocation system is designed to locate very small insects. Most of them are less than a centimeter in diameter. Compared to a bug, a human being is a very large, slow moving sound-reflecting surface. Outside of the cave, the chance of a bat hitting a person is very slim! There are also bats that fly and hunt for food during the day. They sleep outdoors at night in trees, under bridges and other locations. Unlike nocturnal bats, they have well-developed eyes and poorly developed echolocation.