Interesting Vampire Bats Facts

• Bats are the only mammals in the world that are capable of true flight.
  
  
• Bats across the world have a wide diet: fruit, nectar, pollen, birds, fish, lizards, frogs, and mice, some even eat other bats.
  
  
• Some bats hibernate during the winter. This occurs because there is a lack of food in the winter. The bat will slow its body and its temperature will drop from above 86 degrees to below 68 degrees. The bats heartbeat and breathing will also slow down to save energy. This is called Torpor. Sometimes, a bat will use torpor to survive periods when the bad weather keeps them from flying, or reduces the number of insects; it is not just used during hibernation. When the bat wakes, its heartbeat and breathing both increase and its body temp gradually rise over 30 minutes or an hour.
  
  
• Many species roost together in huge numbers. Up to 20 million Mexican free- tailed bats have been known to gather together in Bracken Cave, Texas. At Carlsbad Caverns National Park, New Mexico, there is an amphitheater so that people can watch the bats leaving their roost in the evening.
  
  
• Bat pups are born with large well developed feet so that they can hang onto their mothers. If a baby falls to the floor, it is sure to die.
  
  
• Bats live in ever continent except Antarctica!
  
  
• In North America and Europe bats have long been associated with Witchcraft. The bats were ingredients in folk medicine and potions in many parts of the world.
  
  
• People on the Pacific Island of Guam eat large numbers of megabats. A meat trade has grown because of this.
  
  
• Bats have been on earth for more than 50 million years.
  
  
• Bats are very clean animals and spend much of their time grooming each other in their roosts.
  
  
• A bats grip is so strong, that some are found still hanging when they are dead.