Common Myths

Not every bat is like this blood-sucker above.  Most bats eat insects and fruit and even the one species that does drink blood rarely targets humans.  They do not get stuck in people's hair because they have great echolocation.  Very few bats actually have rabies and the ones that do are not really aggressive.  They are a mammal rather than a rodent, like many people think.  Though they rely on echolocation for the most part, they are not blind.  Most of them just have very poor eyesight but some only use their amazing eyes for good nocturnal vision.  Another interesting fact that could help debunk some possible rumors is that they eat over 3000 insects in a single night out.  Overall, bats are harmless to humans and are more scared of you than you are of them.

Aerial Insectivores vs. Foliage Gleaners

Bats are typically classified as either "aerial insectivores" or "foliage gleaners."Most bats fall under the aerial insectivore classification. They use echolocation, also referred to as biosonar, to not only hunt and capture food (or to detect immobile food if they are foliage gleaners), but also to navigate their environment. They tend to have longer, narrower wings for foraging over long distances in little time. They travel far in one night and can either be loyal to an area or move to another location with another roosting area.

Foliage gleaners on the other hand, rather than detect the movement of prey, they use echolocation to map their environment in detail as well as listen for insect calls in order to locate immobile insects, fruits, and/or flowers.  A few bats with this foraging style actually don't use echolocation, but instead use keen eyesight to locate food.  Their wings are broad, giving them high maneuverability and allowing them to hover.  The wings also decrease their ability to fly long distances, so they tend to be loyal to an area where their food is abundant.  They typically have long, highly manueverable ears to hone in on specific locations.  The insect-hunters, because the prey is so large for them, generally have to go to a nearby roost where they pick off the extremities before ingesting the good parts.

http://www.batcon.org/index.php/media-and-info/bats-archives.html?task=viewArticle&magArticleID=334

Microbats (suborder Microchiroptera)

*see also "Differences Between Suborders of Bats" for very basic information

Microbats are insectivorous, mostly eating insects with the major exception of the ghost bat from Australia, which has been known to eat frogs, birds, lizards and mammals even including small bats.  They range from 3-150 grams and typically have wingspans around 25cm.  They are nocturnal and use echolocation and poor eyesight to locate prey.  Only 2 species of bats have potentially audible echolocation frequencies, but most sounds we can hear bats make are either social chatter, communition with young, and alarm calls.  Microbats have been recorded to find prey as efficiently as one insect every three seconds with their excellent echolocation.

Microbats fly at a range of speeds with varying maneuverability, from slow, fluttery, and controlled to fast and much less easily controlled.  Microbats typically catch and eat their prey while in the air, but they can also "glean" insects that are not in the air and pluck them off surfaces or out of webs.  They do this either by flying slowly and identifying the insect on the plant with echolocation or by perching nearby and simply listening to the movement of the insects.

Microbats like to roost in caves, tree hollows, and many other small crevices including manmade crevices typically in areas where their natural habitat is small or far away (although I believe they may sometimes prefer manmade structures, especially heated structures, for better warmth and a reliable shelter).  They roost upside down because they developed wings at the expense of their ability to stand, developing specialized tendons in their feet by which they can hang effortlessly.  They can also hang from their thumbs when they need to give birth or drop waste.
http://www.derm.qld.gov.au/wildlife-ecosystems/wildlife/az_of_animals/micro_bats_the_insect_terminators/

Megabats (suborder Megachiroptera)

*see also "Difference Between Suborders of Bats" for very basic information

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn10721-the-bat-with-the-incredibly-long-tongue.html

Megabats use their long tongues to consume nectar.  They unintentionally pollenate other flowers with the pollen that sticks in their fur.  They distribute seeds by eating fruit and spitting the seeds or by their seedy guano.  Megabats roost in the daylight by wrapping their wings around themselves.  They have two claws on each of their forelimbs and do not hibernate.  They are known to be very clean.  They are constantly grooming themselves and are careful during urination and defication.  Some live in caves, but most megabats live in the upper canopy of tall trees in freshwater swamps, mangroves, and rainforests.  Some species form complex social systems and can utilize over 20 different calls.
http://www.wettropics.gov.au/st/rainforest_explorer/Resources/Documents/factsheets/Megabats.pdf

Difference Between Two Suborders of Bats

All bats fall under the order Chiroptera into one of two suborders: Megachiroptera and Microchiroptera (or megabats and microbats).  The names do not refer to size.  All bats of both suborders can be any range of sizes anywhere from the size of a small dog with a 2 meter wingspan wieghing 1.5 kilograms to the size of a bee weighing 2 grams.  All megabats reside in the "old world" (before columbus) in tropics and subtropics while microbats can be found all around the world.

Megabats feed almost exclusively on flowers and fruit.  They have large eyes and typically dog-like faces.  Megabats rely on smell and vision to find food and do not use echolocation with the exception of the Egyptian fruit bat, which does incorporate a form of echolocation.

Microbats have more varied tastes including: insects, fruit, pollen, nectar, fish, frogs, blood, and even other bats.  They have small eyes and often elaborate facial construction.  All microbats use echolocation to detect their prey.
http://www.bats.org.uk/pages/bats_of_the_world.html

White-Nose Syndrome

White-nose syndrome is a strange disease effecting bats from New Hampshire to Tenessee.  Bats are found to have white fungus around the muzzle and other various body parts.  Some tend to have low body fat and many are found to exhibit strange, destructive behavior such as favoring the cold and hunting on cold winter days when their insect prey will not be around, wasting valuable energy.  The fungus is largely unstudied and work is being done to see how the fungus acts and how to stop it.
http://www.fws.gov/whitenosesyndrome/

About

This blog is all about bats.  I hope to delve into a new species each week, but I will probably also focus on some common overall issues such as diseases, etc.  Hopefully any of you other bat fanatics out there will find this a good place to start your search when looking into detail about bats and especially a certain species.  I wont go too far into detail about any one aspect of bats, but I will give you the general overall information on a subject or species and a good starting point before directing you with a link to a much more informative site.  I hope as this blog develops that it will be a good and informative collection of information about bats.  I am fascinated by bats and hope to attract any of you other fanatics out there who haven't taken the time to learn much about such an intriguing creature.  I will be updating it at least weekly with new bat news and general information that I think should be out there in a less formal setting.  Enjoy!