Bats belong to the Chiroptera order of animals. They are the only animals capable of genuine and sustained flight because their forelimbs have been developed as wings. Bats are more maneuverable than birds, thanks to their long, spread-out fingers that are coated by a thin membrane called patagium. Kitti’s hog-nosed bat is the smallest bat and probably the smallest extant animal, measuring 29–34 millimetres (1+118–1+338 inches) in length, 150 mm (6 inches) across the wings, and 2–2.6 g (116–332 ounces) in mass. Flying foxes are the biggest bats, with the enormous golden-crowned flying fox, Acerodon jubatus, weighing 1.6 kg (312 lb) with a wing span of 1.7 m. (5 ft 7 in).

Bats are the second biggest mammal order after rodents, accounting for around 20% of all recognized mammal species worldwide, with over 1,400 species. Traditionally, they were split into two suborders: fruit-eating megabats and echolocating microbats. However, more recent evidence has confirmed the division of the order into Yinpterochiroptera and Yangochiroptera, with megabats and some species of microbats belonging to the former. Insectivores make up the majority of bats, while frugivores (fruit eaters) and nectarivores make up the rest (nectar-eaters). A few species eat creatures other than insects, such as vampire bats, which eat blood. Most bats are nocturnal, and many of them sleep in caves or other safe havens; it’s unclear whether these behaviors are used to avoid predators. Bats may be found all throughout the world, with the exception of severely cold climates. Bats play a vital role in pollinating flowers and spreading seeds in their habitats; many tropical plants rely only on bats for these functions.

Bats give certain direct benefits to humans at the expense of some drawbacks. Bat excrement has been extracted as guano and used as fertilizer in caves. Bats eat insects, eliminating the need for pesticides and other insect control methods. They are occasionally plentiful and close enough to human populations to be utilized as tourist attractions, and they are eaten across Asia and the Pacific Rim. Fruit bats, on the other hand, are usually seen as pests by fruit farmers. Bats are a natural reservoir for numerous diseases, including rabies, due to their physiology, and since they are extremely mobile, gregarious, and long-lived, they may easily transfer illness among themselves. When people engage with bats, these characteristics can become harmful to humans.

Bats may be linked with good characteristics such as protection from particular diseases or hazards, rebirth, or long life, depending on the culture, but in the West, bats are commonly associated with darkness, malevolence, witchcraft, vampires, and death.

Etymology

Flittermouse is an ancient English word for bats that is connected to the fluttering of wings and parallels their names in other Germanic languages (for example, German Fledermaus and Swedish fladdermus). Middle English had bakke, which was most likely cognate with Old Swedish natbakka (“night-bat”), and which may have evolved from a -k- to a -t- (to Modern English bat) due to Latin blatta, “moth, nocturnal bug.” The term “bat” was most likely coined in the early 1570s. The name “Chiroptera” comes from the Ancient Greek words – cheir, “hand,” and – pteron, “wing.”

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