BATS

The Art and Science of Bats

Bats are mammals belonging to the order Chiroptera, a name of Greek origin meaning "hand-wing," which accurately describes the animal's most unusual anatomical feature.

Western cultures have generally regarded bats with superstition and fear; but in China, expressed in art and handicrafts, the bat has achieved respectability as a symbol of happiness and good luck. Too often, popular misconceptions have labeled bats as "dirty," "disease carriers," or "blood suckers," an unenviable—and unjust—reputation to be sure. In reality, the more than 1,300 bat species are vitally important to ecosystems and economies around the world: They perform pest control, they pollinate, and they disperse seeds. Many questions received by the Museum concern the vampire bat. Because the true vampire bat of Central and South America feeds on blood, a popular misconception has been to link it to the human vampire legend. The Eastern European tale of a vampire, a corpse that came back to life and sucked blood from the neck of its human victim, dates back to the Middle Ages. In fact, there are no vampire bats native to Europe or Asia; they were not even known to exist before the 1500's when explorers visited the New World and observed their unusual eating habits. Indeed, the bat was named for the legend rather than the legend originating with the bat.

Visit Smithsonian Museum website

Bat Conservation International

Bat Conservation International, in Austin, Texas has made it a science to conserve bats, worldwide. "Our mission is to conserve the world’s bats and their ecosystems to ensure a healthy planet. Bats lead us to the best opportunities to protect nature anywhere in the world.”

Visit Bat Conservation.org

Bat Viewing Destinations.

Bats are found throughout the world, on all continents except Antarctica. Bats live in forests and woodlands, in the cracks and crevices of stone cliffs, and underground in caves and abandoned mines. Bats also live in urban settings too, in buildings and under bridges. Bats also roost in our backyards and neighborhoods, in hollowed-out trees and under eaves, shingles, and siding. Watch for bats in your backyard, under streetlights, and near water sources.

Bat Viewing Destinations

Night Navigators

Discovery Education is helping to bring the LEGO Group’s Social Responsibility Team Build the Change Learning through Play program to classrooms everywhere. Build the Change celebrates the power of play to boost learning and improve lives. Educators, students, and families can tackle sustainable solutions in their own communities through hands-on classroom resources and unique educational challenges that make it easy to incorporate play-with-purpose into daily life.

Visit Build the Change organization

Glow in the Dark Bats

Shining a new light on bats – literally!

By Alyson Brokaw of Bat Conservation International

Visit BatCon.org

Researchers from the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico (UNAM) and University of Texas in Austin were working on using UV-fluorescent powder to track bats when they noticed something unusual – a bright turquoise and blue glow coming only from the short bristles on the toes of Mexican free-tailed bats (Tadarida brasiliensis).

BIRDS

Fly with More Than 450 Bird Species

on Their Annual Migrations with Audubon’s New Interactive Maps

What route does the whooping crane follow as it travels south each year? What about the long-winged turkey vulture? A new interactive guide from Audubon tracks the journeys of more than 450 species as they travel around the hemisphere. Complete with the conservation organization’s signature illustrations, the Bird Migration Explorer features digital maps that offer detailed insight into such grand-scale avian movement and are searchable by different taxonomies.

The Bird Migration Explorer is your guide to the heroic annual journeys made by over 450 bird species, and the challenges they face along the way.