AY Honors/Bats/Answer Key

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Bats

Skill Level 1

1. Why are bats classified as mammals and not birds?

Here are some identifiers for mammals, birds, and bats. After examining the list, it should be rather obvious how much more like mammals bats are:

Mammals:

  • Fur
  • Bear live young (except platypus)
  • The babies nurse from their mother
  • They are Warm-blooded
  • Four legs often with toes and/or "hands" and "feet"

Bats:

  • They have fur or hair
  • A baby bat is born alive
  • The babies nurse from their mother
  • They are Warm-blooded
  • Bats have arms, hands and feet

Birds:

  • Birds have feathers, not fur or hair
  • They are hatched from eggs
  • The babies are fed from mom's mouth
  • They have wings, but not hands and fingers

2. What is the main characteristic that separates bats from all other mammals?

Bats are the only mammal that can truly fly (others species such as the flying squirrels actually glide instead of fly).

3. What is the name or the that bats belong to and what does it mean?

Bats are in the Order Chiroptera, which literally means "hand-wing" in latin. This name makes sense because a bat's wings stretch over the forearm and fingers, and attach down at the ankle bones. The name is from the Greek, Cheir=hand; Pteron=wing. They got this name when scientists noticed that they fly with a modified hand.

4. What are the largest and smallest bats and where do they live?

  • Largest: The biggest flying mammals are the Flying Foxes, particularly those living in Asia and Australia. Several species have a length of 45 cm (17.7 in), a wingspan of 1.7 m (5 ft 7 in), and a weight of 1.6 kg (3.5 lb).
  • Smallest: The world smallest is the Bumblebee Bat of Thailand, weighing less than a penny.

5. How many different types of bats are there worldwide?

There are approximately 1000 species of bats in the world, and bats live on every continent except Antarctica. There are approximately 825 species of Micro-chiptera worldwide, and about 175 species of Mega-chiroptera.

6. Bats are divided into two (2) suborders. What are their names?

  • a. Mega-chiroptera
  • b. Micro-chiptera

7. Which subprder of bats uses echolocation and which suborder use eyesight to find their food?

  • a. Megabats: Use eyesight.
  • b. Microbats: Use echolocation. (Bats send out sound waves using their mouth or nose. When the sound hits an object an echo comes back. The bat can identify an object by the sound of the echo. They can even tell the size, shape and texture of a tiny insect from its echo . Most bats use echolocation to navigate in the dark and find food.)

8. What is the diet of the Megabats?

The megabats are called fruit bats because many of them eat fruit, nectar, and pollen.

9. What is the diet of the Microbats?

The microbats are the insect-eating bats.

10. How many babies does a bat have each year and what are the babies called?

Most bats have one baby per year, though some have twins or triplets. Baby bats are called pups.

11. Find three Bible texts that mention bats.

Leviticus 11:19: The stork, any kind of heron, the hoopoe and the bat. Deuteronomy 14:18: The stork, any kind of heron, the hoopoe and the bat.

Isaiah 2:20: In that day men will throw away to the rodents and bats their idols of silver and idols of gold, which they made to worship.

Which text uses bats in an end-time prophecy?

Isaiah 2:20: In that day men will throw away to the rodents and bats their idols of silver and idols of gold, which they made to worship.

12. Do bats hibernate or migrate for the winter?

In the cold climates bats either hibernate or migrate to warmer locations. Bats living in the tropical zones stay active year round.

13. Name the parts of a bat?

Knee, tail membrane, tail, calcal, Foot, wing membrane, fingers, wrist, ear, tragus, forearm, thumb

14. How many insects can a bat eat in an hour?

600 - 1,000 insects per hour according to their body weight. A single brown bat can eat 1,200 insects per hour.

15. What are the two (2) main benefits bats provide for man?

a. Eat insects. A single brown bat can eat 1,200 insects per hour (3,000 - 7,000 per night). Bats each such harmful insects such as lacewings, cochroaches, mosquitoes, and gnats. Large colonies of bats can consume many insects that would otherwise harm farmers' agricultural crops.

b. Pollinate and spread seeds. Bats serve as food plant pollinators.

c. Provide outlet for medical research. Their ecolocation skills have been studied to help medical professionals help the blind.

16. Build or purchase a bat box, know the best place to put it and install it at a home, church, or your school. Record for 3 months what kind and how many bats have made it their home.

You can find online house plans to build your own bat here: http://www.batcon.org/bhra/economyhouse.html

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