
BATS

Bats are mammals of the order Chiroptera. With their forelimbs adapted as wings, they are the only mammals capable of true and sustained flight. Bats are more agile in flight than most birds, flying with their very long spread-out digits covered with a thin membrane or patagium. Jopestkil Kenya Bats Importance & True Facts About Bats Living.
Bats are also used symbolically in religion, mythology, superstition, and the arts. Perceived medical uses of bats include treating epilepsy, night blindness, rheumatism, asthma, chest pain, and fever in some renowned world religions. Bat meat is consumed with many of all species hunted for food. Other economic uses of bats include using their teeth as currency and bat guanos as fertilizers.
WHAT ARE BATS?
Bats are nocturnal, flying animals that are known for inhabiting dark and secluded locations. Since the discovery of the first bat fossil dating back over million years ago, scientists have identified over 980 species of bats worldwide. Depending on the species, bats can live for up to 30 years. African bats fall into two major categories: large fruit bats and smaller, insect-eating bats, neither of which attacks people. In addition to a difference in size between the two types, there is a great variation in the extent and details of the wings, which are formed by the naked membrane of skin that extends from the neck to the wrist and between the fingers, and finally to the tail. Wing shapes vary from species to species. Usually, the swift fliers have long, narrow wings while the slow fliers have broad, rounded ones. Jopestkil Kenya Bats Importance & True Facts About Bats Living.
BATS APPEARANCE
A bat’s body is covered completely with hair and they tend to have rather large ears. Bats use their ears to help them detect the location of objects around them or to locate insects flying through the air. Depending on the species, an adult bat can weigh less than 1 oz. up to 3 lbs. Bats have two wings, consisting of a double membrane stretched across their elongated fingers and arm bones, which are their primary way of getting around. They have four limbs, two legs and two arms with the same bones as human hands modified as part of their wings. Jopestkil Kenya Bats Importance & True Facts About Bats Living.
Another interesting bat fact is they are the only mammal capable of true flight. The surface of a bat’s wing is equipped with bumps called “Merkel cells”. These bumps have tiny hairs that help sense airflow during flight so the bat can make adjustments for maximum flight efficiency.
