Pub trivia: Bats
Bats
Christian Bale may have been eclipsed by Heath Ledger's less than jokey performance but the bat remains an enigma. Here are some facts about the flying night mammal for you to sink your teeth into.
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Fact
The 20 million Mexican free-tailed bats that inhabit Bracken Cave in Texas fly up to two miles high to feed or to catch tailwinds that carry them over long distances, at speeds of more than 60 miles per hour.
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Fact
The Honduran white bat is snow white with a yellow nose and ears. It cuts large leaves to make "tents" which protect its small colonies from harsh jungle rains. It is one of fifteen other species known to make tents.
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Fact
Contrary to the old saying, most bats have very good eyesight, and fishing bats have echo location so sophisticated that they can detect a minnow's fin as fine as a human hair protruding only two millimetres above a pond's surface. The African heart-nosed bats can hear the footsteps of a beetle walking on sand from a distance of more than six feet.
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Fact
Bats are more closely related to us than they are to rodents. Several studies have shown that some species of fruit bats and flying foxes may actually be descended from early primates.
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Fact
The world's smallest mammal is the bumblebee bat of Thailand which weighs about as much as a ten pence piece, while at the other end of the scale giant flying foxes from Indonesia have wingspans of nearly six feet.
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Fact
The vampire bat is a poor little bugger who doesn't deserve his fearsome reputation. They actually adopt orphans and are one of the few mammals who will risk their own lives to share food with less fortunate roost-mates.
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Fact
A single little brown bat, from the myotis species, can eat up to 1000 mosquitoes in a single hour – more than its own body weight nightly - and is one of the world's longest-lived mammals for its size, with life spans of almost 40 years.
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Fact
Bats make up just about a fourth of all mammals on the planet; there are over 1000 known species of these flying curiosities and most would fit in the palm of your hand.
