Bat Information 
If you would like to learn about real bats then you are in the right spot! Bats are truly amazing mammals. That's right. Bats are mammals NOT birds.Bats have fur, their babies are born live,they have hands arms and feet, they are warm blooded, and they nurse their babies. That's why they are mammals and NOT birds! There are 2 main groups of bats: megabats (big) and microbats (small).Some bats hibernate during the winter.
Where do you think bats live? Do they live in the closet? No....here are some places where bats might like to live.
Some bats
live in old buildings that have been empty for
a while.
Some bats live in caves
where it's dark and damp. (wet)
Some bats live under bridges.
Some bats live in old
mines that nobody uses any more.
Mines are like caves. They are under the ground where it is dark and damp.
Some bats live in trees.
I don't think that any of us in
Bethpage have bats in our trees!
Here are
some great pictures of bat caves. You can see that the bats are
hanging upside down on the walls of the caves!
These
are Cuban funnel-eared bats. These
are Jamaican fruit bats.
Guess what they eat!
These are some Sooty moustached bats. These are some West Indian leaf chinned bats.
Look closely
so that you can see the West Indian long-tongued bats.
I guess they have long tongues!
What
do you think bats look like? Have you ever seen a
real bat or a picture of a bat? Let's look at the outside
of a bat first....
Look at
those 2 big ears. Bats have very good hearing. Their ears help the bats find
where they are going. (echolocation) Did you know that bats have thumbs? Remember
the story of Stellaluna? She hung upside down on the tree branch by her thumbs
to look like a bird. Bats really use the claws on their feet to hang upside
down when they
sleep! I bet you know that the bat uses it's wings to fly! I thought that
you knew that. Bats are the only flying mammal. Bats don't use their legs
and feet to walk to where they are going! Bats are NOT blind. They do see
best in the dark. They also have a good sense of smell, especially the fruit
bats. Bats do NOT make nests. They roost, hang out! Get it? Ha, ha!
Baby bats are called pups. A mother bat has one pup a year.
Now let's look inside at the bats bones...his skeleton!
Think
about how they took this picture of a bat skeleton! Do you think they took
an x-ray picture of a bat? Do you think that someone took the bones of a dead
bat
and put them together like a puzzle? Hmmm....I'm not telling!!!!
Well, we know where bats live and what they look like inside and outside. Now, let's see what bats like to eat. Remember that there are many different kinds of bats so they eat many different kinds of food!
The 2
bats in the pictures below like to eat insects. They are both small bats.
They are only 3" from top to bottom. Take out a ruler and see how long
3" is. It's about this long: ____________________
The Big Brown bat is a fast flier! He lives in farm buildings and some forests.
The Brazilian Free-tailed bat lives in caves and under bridges. The Brazilian
Free-tail bat lives in the southwest of the United States. I saw them in some
caves in Carsbad Caverns!! There were hundreds and hundreds of them. They
scared me when they all flew out at night to hunt for insects! Go bats....keep
eating those bad insects!
The Brown bat and the Brazilian Free-tail bat love insects!
This
fruit bat is like
Stellaluna. He eats
sweet fruit!
Is this a cute fruit bat?
I think so!
Here are some good books to check out!
(The
section for bats in the library is 599.4
Remember that these books are meant to be read and discussed together!)
|
|
Flying Bats by Fay Robinson is an Easy Reader book with lots of information. |
Bats Mammals that Fly by Marlene Sway has some interesting information and pictures. |
|
Zipping, Zapping, Zooming Bats by Anne Earle is a Let's Read and Find Out book. |
Bats! Strange and Wonderful by Laurence Pringle |
Fruit bats look so cute. Each kind of fruit bat looks just a bit different than the other kinds of fruit bats. |
|
Bat Loves the Night by Nicolla Davies |
Bats Shadows in the Night by Diane
Ackerman is at the Bethpage library. |
Laurence Pringle's book Batman Exploring the World of Bats has great pictures and information. |
|
Bats by Carolyn MacLulich is a short and simple Reading Discovery book. |
The Truth About Bats is a Magic School Bus chapter book. |
The Eyes on Nature series is always a good choice. We have it in our library. |
|
Going Batty is a wonderful Magic School Bus book. |
Gail Gibbons non fiction books are always great. |
Bobbie Kalman's book, What is a Bat? has some good pictures! |
Stellaluna
by Janell Cannon is a favorite of ours! It is a fiction book filled
with true bat information!!
I know
that many of you love poetry so here are some bat poems for you to enjoy!
Try to write a bat poem of your own. Have a grownup help you. Remember, not
all poetry has to rhyme!!
(bring your poem to school and share it with us!)
|
Bat Tree Way up high in
the bat tree,
|
Five
Little Bats Five little bats hanging upside down, The first little one didn't make a sound. The second one said,"I'll fly far tonight." The third one said,"I don't like sunlight." The fourth one said,"I want to eat some bugs." The fifth one said,"Let me give you a hug." Five little bats hanging upside down. Shhh! It's daytime, don't make a sound! |
| Flying
Bats If I could hide inside this cave, What wonderous sights I'd see; Brown bats all hanging upside down Like dark leaves on a tree. Their mouths wide open as they fly, Shouting sounds as they go by; The echoes bounce off the rocks and things. To help them steer their hunter's wings. |
Spooky
Bats Spooky bats go flying at night, Flapping about in the pale moonlight. Spreading their wings, they're a scary sight! But truth be told, there's no need for fright. Spooky bats are not really bad. They eat harmful insects, for which we are glad! They're somewhat shy, I might also add. But never grab one- it could get mad! |
| 5
Little Bats 5 little bats came flying to the door, 1 flew away and that left 4. 4 little bats hiding in a tree, 1 flew away and that left 3. 3 little bats looking down at you, 1 flew away and that left 2. 2 little bats hiding from the sun, 1 flew away and that left just 1. 1 little bat hanging all alone, He flew away and then there were none! |
Sleeping
Bats |
Here are 2 fun websites with fun bat things. Check with a growup before you go to any website!!
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/connectdots/bat/
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/mammals/bat/label/external
I hope you enjoyed this web page! If you are interested you can print out the 2 worksheets, from the index page, fill in the answers and bring them into school. We'll hang them up with our bat stories!
