Some Interesting Things About Bats Quiz

Answer: Over 900

Bats are an amazingly abundant animal. In the early part of the 21st century, approximately 925 different species of bats had been identified. That is around 20% of all known living mammal species!

Answer: Hammerhead bat

The hammerhead bat is named for a protrusion on the front of the male bat's face that looks like a hammer. The female does not have this protuberance. The female is also half the size of the male. Besides being the largest bat in Africa, the hammerhead bat is considered to be the most sexually dimorphistic bat in the world due to these and other differences.

Answer: About 158-162

As you may know, some bats use echolocation to find their prey. They send out ultrasonic sounds that bounce off the prey and back to them. This helps them to identify where the prey is. When they are out hunting, they can really get going!

Answer: $22.9 billion (USD)

Carnivorous bats eat a whole bunch of insects every day. In fact, each bat eats about its own body weight in insects every day. Many of those insects are harmful to crops, so a group of scientists at Boston University calculated how much more money American farmers would spend on pesticides if bats were not present.

They estimated that bats save American farmers somewhere between $3.7 billion and $54 billion a year, most likely about $22.9 billion.

Answer: Tequila

Bats that eat nectar help to pollinate plants just like bees. They travel from flower to flower drinking the nectar and transfer the pollen around. This helps fruit to form on the plant. Bats pollinate the agave cactus which is used to produce tequila.

Besides the agave, nectar-eating bats also help wild fruit such as bananas, breadfruit, avocados, dates, figs, peaches, mangoes and many others to produce fruit and seeds.

Answer: Fertilizer

Bat guano, or bat excrement, has been found to be very useful as a fertilizer for gardens and lawns. It can be worked directly into the soil to add nutrients and help with drainage. It can also be made into a "tea" by soaking about a cup of guano per gallon of water overnight, then straining and using for watering flowers. Note: guano tea should not be consumed by people or pets.

Answer: Draculin

Draculin is, of course, named after Bram Stoker's Count Dracula. The protein works in vampire bats' saliva by increasing an easy flow of the blood by decreasing the ability of the blood to clot. The protein is often given to stroke patients. It is thought that when they receive it, the clots in blood vessels in their brains will decrease, thus allowing blood to flow more freely.

Answer: False

All bat species can use their eyes to see. However, their use of echolocation is a much more efficient way for them to navigate their environments, especially when flying at night.

Answer: Neither

No mammals other than bats have true wings and flight. The wings of bats are modified limbs that have a flight surface covered by skin that ends in four fingers. In most cases, the flight membrane in bats extends down the sides of the body and attaches to the hind legs.

The other options in the list are mammals that simply glide through the air. They do not have wings to flap in order to control their flight.

Answer: 10-25 years

Wild animals' lifespans typically correlate to their size. The larger the animal, the longer they live, and the smaller the animal, the shorter lives they live. However, bats tend to live surprisingly long lives. In fact, scientists have found that given species of bats will typically live at least 3.5 times longer than other mammals of similar size.

In 2019, scientists determined that when body size is taken into account, there are 19 different mammal species that live longer than humans. Of those, 18 are bats.