Bats: Nature's Night Fliers

One of the most bizarre and intriguing creatures in creation is the bat. Its body is quite similar to that of a mouse, yet it has no legs and it flies. Its wings are unique, unlike any other bird's, lacking feathers and instead covered with furry skin like other mammals. Furthermore, the bat feeds on its mother's milk, just like other mammals...

So what kind of animal is a bat? Bird or mammal?

The Creator, who inscribed every law into creation, decided that bats are classified among the impure birds, and thus we have a reliable source stating it is a bird!

Naturalists have identified nearly 1,000 types of bats. In Israel, there are about 30 species. Most bats are found in temperate and tropical regions. Bats are divided into two groups: fruit bats, which primarily consume fruits and plants, and insect bats, which mostly feed on gnats and other insects.

Fruit bats are larger than their insect-eating counterparts. A fruit bat can weigh up to 900 grams and have a wingspan of 170 cm! They can smell their food from afar due to an incredibly sensitive nose. At night, they feed on fruits such as loquat, mulberry, chinaberry, fig, carob, and more. By day, fruit bats roost in caves, wells, ruins, and buildings, preferring humid, dark caves. These caves can host groups of dozens or even thousands of bats. Farmers dislike fruit bats as they damage orchards, particularly date, loquat, and lychee groves, with farmers estimating losses in the tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars each year.

Insect-eating bats are smaller. They are half the size of fruit bats. They hunt insects mid-flight, making them excellent hunters. They find their prey by sound, thanks to their sharp ears, which are rich with folds and bumps.

After a 16-week pregnancy, a female bat gives birth to a single pup. Typically, she gives birth twice a year. After birth, the pup clings to her body and she nurses it. Most insect-eating bats do not carry their young when hunting for insects, except in distress, like when forced to leave the cave. Then, the mother flies with her young clinging to her belly with its teeth. The young bat starts flying at the age of 9-10 weeks, reaching adult size within six months.

Bats aren’t picky about their habitat. They don't need "a residence with all the amenities" and will make do with the crevice of an old tree, an abandoned bird nest, or a disused chimney. Essentially, they don't need a "home" at all – they just hang themselves upside down on a tree branch and sleep soundly throughout the day. At night, they venture out for their next meal.

Most bats are brown or gray – these are excellent camouflage colors for the predators of the night in the animal kingdom.

Who’s Afraid of Vampires?

Another type of bat, famous for its favorite meal, is the vampire. The common vampire bat feeds on the blood of vertebrates. It quietly lands on its victims, which it locates using smell, sound, echo, and heat. It can walk, run, and scamper on the ground to track its prey. Once it reaches them, it bites, causing a wound about 3 millimeters wide, which causes little pain and typically doesn’t awaken the victim. It doesn’t suck the victim’s blood directly but rather licks the blood oozing from the wound. It consumes an amount of blood up to 60% of its body weight but only needs the red blood cells, expelling the plasma before completing its meal.

Seeing with Eyes Closed

Bats fly using membranes stretched like rubber between their fingers. As definitive nocturnal creatures, their eyes are adapted for darkness but aren’t very strong and offer little assistance. How then can they fly? The Creator endowed them with a special sense, similar to radar, enabling them to "see" in the dark better than any other creature. Bats emit high-frequency sounds and detect returning echoes when sound waves bounce off objects. By assessing the strength of the returning sound, they can discern what lies ahead. Flying inside a cave or closed space requires exact precision. The radar-like sense in bats is so sophisticated that it not only allows precise flying but also enables high-speed flights!

Since bats are nocturnal and only venture out after darkness falls, there's hardly a chance you'll ever see one. Additionally, they never attack people, so there’s no reason to fear them.

It's no wonder that the bizarre traits of bats have given them a "bad reputation" and spawned horror stories. Some think they are magical creatures, dangerous, blood-sucking, and more. However, in truth, bats are far from all those "legends," and while they might not seem useful, they certainly aren’t harmful.

The bat is one of nature's most bizarre and wondrous creatures. However, it is merely a small link in the grand chain of creation, where everything is amazingly coordinated and calculated. The deeper naturalists delve into nature’s intricate details, the more they uncover impeccable design and order, clearly pointing to an extraordinary, guiding wisdom that created it.