Bats are awesome!

They are so awesome that this website cannot begin to explain all of the awesomeness, so there are MANY links below to help you in your exploration. The links are in no particular order, so if you do not know where to start, clicking some at random is sure to take you somewhere interesting.

It's hard to keep up with all of the amazing bat news and conservation organizations, and some of the links on this page may stop working, but we are doing our best to keep up and update. Think of this page as a jumping-off point, and keep your bat ears tuned for more news and updates.

Bats reading The Gentleman Bat at Lubee Bat Conservancy, Gainesville, FL.   Click here for more cute photos!

Some Bat Basics:

- Bats are mammals (like humans). They are the only mammals that really fly. Other "flying" mammals like flying squirrels, actually jump and glide (which is still pretty cool), instead of flapping their wings like bats.

- Bats' wings are basically skin stretched between their fingers. When their wings are folded up, so are their fingers, which makes it very difficult to play piano. They use their thumbs and feet to hang upside down and move around when they are not flying.

Some bats like to dance, but not all bats have moves like these.

- There are more than 1200 kinds of bats, and each species is a little different in size, shape, behavior, and eating habits than the others.

- The smallest bat is the bumblebee bat, which is less than 2 inches long. The largest bat is a fruit bat that can have a wingspan of more than 5 feet!

- Many bats have big ears. These come in handy when they are using echolocation to catch bugs and avoid running into things while flying around in the dark. They make high-pitched squeaks that bounce off of things, and allow them to "see" using their ears.

- Bats are not blind. Fruit bats can see in full color, about as well as humans. Many smaller bats have limited distance vision, but see well enough close-up.

- Most bats eat bugs. (There's a song about it: Bats Eat Bugs) Bat colonies eat millions of pounds of insects around the world every year. Without bats, you would have to live in a much buggier world.

"Spiced or candied?"

- Many bats eat fruit and nectar from flowers. These bats help to polinate flowering plants and spread fruit seeds, which help to build and maintain healthy rainforests, and to regrow forests in places that have been logged.

- Other bats eat frogs, rodents, fish, and even scorpions! Vampire bats drink blood, but don't worry, they almost never nibble on people.

- The largest known bat colony in the world lives in Bracken Cave, north of San Antonio, Texas, with around 20 million bats in the summer time!

- The largest urban bat colony in North America is under the Congress Avenue Bridge in Austin, Texas, with 750,000 - 1,500,000 Mexican free-tailed bats living there each summer. They eat 10,000 to 30,000 pounds of insects every night!

There are a lot of articles and reference sites linked here in mostly random order, and we may add more as we find them or have them recommended to us, so click around and have fun. The web is full of fascinating information about bats. Videos are grouped at the bottom of the list.

Wikipedia has a long article packed with all kinds of information.

Bat Guide - National Wildlife Federation

Univeristy of Michigan Animal Diversity Web (search keyword "Bat"), Main Page

Bat Development and Embryology, University of New South Wales, Australia - very cool Bat Embryo Photos!

Article about bat development, some photos of Bat Embryos

Weird Nature: A Bat That Eats Scorpions!

Photo of a momma bat flying with a baby bat (Scroll down to #24)

Photos of 25 cute bat species

Article about albinism, with a photo gallery that includes Albino Bats

The Females of the Madagascar Sucker-Footed Bat are Missing

Yorkshire Bats' Habitation Behavior Surprises Scientists

Bats find shelter at Nazi defence line in Poland

"Lost" bat species in New Guinea rediscovered after 120 years

Bats Eat Bookworms at Elegant Portugese Libraries (Biblioteca Joanina, and Mafra National Palace Library)

Bats that sing like birds?

Bats Recognize Other Bats' Voices

Free Online Tool Helps Identify Bat Calls

Researchers "Translate" Bat Talk. Turns Out, They Argue—A Lot

Bright Orange Bat Surprises Fruit Seller

Bracken Cave goes batty for visitors

Nature Conservancy sets up artifical bat cave to help combat white-nose syndrome

3 ways to keep bats away from wind turbines

Superfast Muscles Help Bats Catch Prey - First Such Muscles Found in Mammals

Bats use hair-thin muscles to shape wings in flight

Bat mops up nectar using bizarre bristled tongue - Scientific paper with more information and images

Bats drawn to plants by echolocation - Plant structure evolved to respond to bat calls

Vampire Bats Cannot Taste Bitter Flavors

Top 10 Bizarre Bats

Bat of the Negev Eats Scorpions

Dispelling Flights of Fancy about Bats

Bats have sparkly poop

A few bat articles from Live Science:
Bats shut traps while flying in groups
Bats taste prey before eating
Bats are more efficient flyers than birds

Neighbor not batting an eyelid over flying foxes

Seattle couple hosts attic full of bats

Santa Cruz Roofer, First to Earn Bat-Friendly Label

Bats in artwork at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

Bats in artwork at the Tate Museum

Bat and flower pattern by Natalya Zahn

Goth Bats Bat Products

Bat and flower wallpaper for your house by Dan Funderburgh

Anatomically Correct Zoological Needlefelts by Cretur Fetur, and their Etsy page

Ceramic mugs with bat wing handles by Polish artist Barbara Sniegula

Radio: In Tracking Bats, It Helps To Find Them Adorable

Radio: Blindness No Obstacle To Those With Sharp Ears - Humans Using Echolocation

Radio: What is it like to be a bat? - More Humans Using Echolocation

Video: Baby Bat Burritos at the Australian Bat Clinic

Video: The Bats and the Kapok Tree - Antillean Fruit Bats covered in pollen as they feed on flowers

Video: Smarter Every Day: Bat Flight vs. Birds - includes slo-mo video, computer models, and robot bat wings

Video: Meet Ro-bat, Brown University's Robotic Bat Wing

Article about Brown University's Robo-bat and another video

Brown University's Aeromechanics & Evolutionary Morphology Lab - scroll down the page for awesome photos and slow-motion videos of bats flying and swimming, and even a long-tongue bat drinking water

Video: Amazing High Speed X-Ray Videos Reveal How Bats Take Flight

Video: Slo-mo footage of bats feeding on cactus flowers

Video: Bats have innate ability to detect open water

Video: Super cute orphan bats at the Australian Bat Clinic

Video: Are you afraid of bats? Don't be.

Video: Bats Departing from Congress Bridge in Austin, Texas

Video: Gating Bat Caves for Bat Safety - Science Friday

Video: Laser Scanners and Thermal Imaging to Document Bat Caves - Science Friday

Video: Murcielagos Aliados Nocturnos Generalidades - Amazing and beautiful footage of all kinds of bats with narration in Spanish, from the Bolivian bat conservation organization (PCMB). For a very rough (sometimes inaccurate) translation to English, turn on closed captions (CC) at the bottom of the video, and choose "Translate Captions."

Video: Batz, Animated Movie

Video / Audio: Some Moths Escape Bats by Jamming Sonar - NPR / Science Friday

Live feed: Vampire Bat Cam at Organization for Bat Conservation

Many groups of bats are in peril, and unfortunately humans are one of the biggest sources of threats to bats. Construction development, farming practices, exotic pet trade, pollution, noise, and other dangers threaten groups of bats and even whole bat species. Fortunately with widespread education and a few easy changes in behavior and attitude, humans can live comfortably with bats.

Here are some links to organizations devoted to the preservation and rescue of bats around the world. The list is not complete, so if you know of a worthwhile organization that we might link here, please let us know.

This Old House Fun Family Project: How to Build a Bat House

Bat World Sanctuary, Mineral Wells, Texas, and their Facebook page

Punk Rock / Metal Benefit Album for Bat World Sanctuary, and their Facebook page - (music and lyrics may not be suitable for kids or all audiences)

Bat Conservation International, Austin, Texas, and their Facebook page

Organization for Bat Conservation, Bloomfield Hills, Mchigan, and their Facebook page

Indiana State University Center for Bat Research, Outreach, and Conservation, and their Facebook page

Lubee Bat Conservancy, Gainesville, Florida, and their Facebook page

Bats reading The Gentleman Bat at Lubee Bat Conservancy, Gainesville, FL.   Click here for more cute photos!