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Go to curiositystream.com/AnimalWonders to start streaming thousands of documentaries and non-fiction TV shows. Hello, and welcome back to animal wonders.

I'm Jesse, and I’m really interested in animals that have unusual reputations. I wanted to share some of the amazing things that I know and love about our nighttime flying friends. Bats.

I'm a fan of bats all year round. But during the month of October, I love seeing bats pop up everywhere in decorations, treats, and even Halloween costumes. But bats are really interesting animals that have some awesome adaptations, and I’d love to see them celebrated properly.

So, let’s delve into some spooktacular facts about these amazing animals; by the end, I hope you'll be able to see just how important bats are for us and the world around us. My first interaction with a bat was when I was about six-year-old. and I accidentally scared one out of hiding because I sat on a fallen tree, and they happened to be hiding in a little crevice right where I sat. The sudden fluttering of wings was definitely a shock. but my fascination had peaked.

Did you know that there are over 1 400 species of bat bats bats are in the order Chiroptera, which is the second largest order in the family Mammalia, and they make up 20 of all known mammals for such a secretive animal; it's amazing how many there actually are. Animal Wonders calls the state of Montana in the United States of America home. And our state alone has 15 species of bats, including the big brown bat and the Hoary bat, among others.

Every species of bat is quite different, and you'll, of course, have different species of bats depending on where you live. The difference between species can vary in what habitat they prefer to live in, what they eat, how they hunt, their behavior, and especially their size. The smallest bat species in the world is Kitti's hog-nosed bat, also known as the bumblebee bat, which is only a little over an inch long with a wingspan of six inches and weighing only two to three grams comparatively one of the largest bat species is the giant golden-crowned flying fox also known as the golden capped fruit bat which can weigh three pounds and have a wingspan of five and a half feet with so much variation scientists are having a hard time deciding the best way to classify and group bat species the order Chiroptera has traditionally been split into two main sub-orders mega Chiroptera or megabats and Microchiroptera microbats.

Megabats are large fruit-eating bats, and most do not use echolocation; microbats are smaller and do use echolocation. However, there is a lot of ongoing debate about how Chiroptera should be split; and as scientists learn more and more about these amazing animals, their theories on how different bat species are related keep shifting. despite the wide variety of bat species, they all have one thing in common they can fly. Bats have captured our attention with their uncanny ability to fly.

And what makes them so unique is that bats are the only mammals capable of true flight. Some mammals, like flying squirrels and sugar gliders, have special skin flaps that allow them to glide long distances, but only bats can actually fly, and some are incredibly fast. Now, you might have heard that the fastest mammal in the world is the cheetah, but that's not actually true; cheetahs can run 75 to 80 miles per hour, which is amazingly fast, but Mexican free-tailed bats can fly a hundred miles per hour.

This makes them the fastest bats and also the fastest mammals in the world. Moving super-fast sounds awesome, but most people I know have, at one point or another in their lives, wished they could fly. Sadly, our human bodies simply aren't designed for flight.

Birds and bats, on the other hand, are leagues ahead of us; yet if we compare the arm bones of birds, humans, and bats, you might be surprised at how similar they look and also how different, if we look at our own body we have long bones in our arms with pretty short finger bones, and this is pretty similar to birds bats, however, are the opposite they have hands that are much longer than their arms their incredibly, long finger bones extend all the way through the wing, and this is also where the order name Chiroptera comes from in Greek; It translates to hand wing. The bones in a bat's wings are covered by a double layer of skin called the patagium, which extends all the way from their fingertips to the sides of their body and down to their legs. Overall, this wing structure gives a bat flexibility and maneuverability; they can bend their wings into different shapes, and dive and turn quickly in the air, which makes them excellent flyers.

Bats can also be good at climbing because they have a hooked claw that extends above their wings. This special claw helps them scale rocks, cliffs, and trees, which is a good thing because when they're on the ground, most bats are pretty awkward; their arms are huge cumbersome wings, and their back legs are mostly used to aid in flight or for roosting, so walking around just isn't their forte. But those little legs do come in handy with a special adaptation of their own bats have an interesting way of relaxing when they're not flying around.

They have a tendon that allows their feet to lock onto a perch or ledge so they can easily roost and sleep upside down without worrying about falling. Now, echolocation is one of the really interesting things that bats can do but remember, only some bats can do it. When bats echolocate, they are making an ultrasonic sound that will hit and rebound off of nearby objects and create an echo.

Bats then use their sensitive ears to listen for the echoes to bounce back; the amount of time it takes for the echo to reach their ears helps them determine the shape and distance of small and large objects. Some bats can even determine what species of insects are around them just with echolocation. Echolocation is an amazing adaptation, and it can be incredibly useful in helping some bats hunt and catch food.

While hunting, some bats can change the frequency of the pulses they emit so their prey is less likely to slip past them and escape one strategy they can implement is the faster the prey item is the faster the bat will make the pulses but not all bats echolocate and those that do can still have very different styles of hunting and it mostly depends on what each species eats so if you have bat species in your area you should definitely check out how your local bats hunt this means bats can be found in almost any habitat in the world and they have a wide range of diets depending on the species bats can eat insects fruit nectar pollen or small vertebrates like frogs lizards birds mammals and even fish most microbats eat insects they eat moths flies crickets grasshoppers beetles bees wasps and mosquitoes some bats catch the insects right out of the air with their mouths others use their wings and tail membranes to scoop insects out of the air and some slower moving species grab insects that are perched on plants rocks or trees but Regardless of how they eat, bats that eat insects are great at getting rid of a lot of different types of pests, especially for farmers that want to avoid using insecticides bats alone have been estimated to save farmers in the United states 23 billion dollars in pesticides and crop damage each year So, thank you bats. Now, bats that eat fruit nectar or pollen are also very beneficial for plants and forests. Fruit-eating bats tend to pluck fruit, carry it off to a roosting spot and eat it there.

While eating, many species will spit the seeds out onto the ground; this makes them excellent seed dispersers for many plants. Some bats that eat nectar and pollen have extremely long tongues to reach down into the flowers, and while they eat, pollen gets stuck to their fur. and they carry it to the next flower that they visit. These bats are perfect pollinators.

In fact, there are over 500 species of plants that rely on bats for pollination, and what's really neat is that some of the flowers open at night instead of during the day because they want to attract the bats who are nocturnal. Now one of the reasons that bats are seen as being spooky is because many books and movies show bats as drinking human blood. In reality, only three of the over 1400 species of bats worldwide consume only blood.

And those species that do drink blood mostly get the blood from livestock like horses and cows, so thankfully, we don't have to fear our little bat friends, at least most of them, fortunately. Even though bats are incredibly helpful, and once you get to know them, they're really more cute than creepy there are so many people who are afraid of bats. When some people think of bats instead of thinking about how interesting and helpful they are, they think of bats as gross animals that carry diseases.

Now bats can harbor a wide variety of pathogens, including rabies, which is a deadly virus to humans. But scientists have also found that bats carry about the same number of diseases as rodents and primates, which are also very abundant mammals. One of the biggest differences though, is that bats have a very high resistance to the pathogens they carry.

Bats have adapted to carry many pathogens, including rabies, and remain unaffected. This can make it hard for people to differentiate between bats carrying diseases and those that don't. Therefore, I would definitely recommend avoiding any direct contact with wild bats for you and your pets.

But they can still be very beneficial for your yard and your ecosystem.  Speaking of bats being beneficial: there are some really interesting ways that bats could help further medical research for humans. Many scientists are now studying bats to find out how they're able to carry so many different harmful pathogens, sometimes for years without being affected by them; if we can better understand how bats do this, we may be able to develop better ways to treat these diseases in humans which, is definitely something we can all celebrate. I think bats are really amazing animals, and I hope you can see why they help us in so many ways, from pollinating plants to eliminating pests to helping diversify our forests and even helping us develop new medical treatments.

Unfortunately, bats are facing a lot of challenges in the wild. Habitat loss, climate change, disease loss of roosting spaces, persecution from humans, and more are causing their populations to decline, so the more we learn about bats, the better we can understand them. And the better we understand them, the easier it is for us to be able to find ways to help them continue to thrive.

One of the ways that you can help right now is to share what you find interesting about bats with others. You can share this video, and other videos, post photos on social media, tell stories, gift others with awesome books, and also, don't forget to keep learning yourself. Like I am!

I recently watched this interesting video about bats on CuriosityStream. It's part of a short series called Secret Migrations, and the episode is all about the small and adorable but impressive Nathusius Pipistrella. I loved all the amazing footage of bats flying, especially the incredible slow-motion shots when they were in the wind tunnel.

You can find the video on CuriosityStream, who is the sponsor of today's video. They're a subscription streaming service that offers thousands of documentaries and non-fiction titles from some of the world's best filmmakers, including exclusive originals. Its smart TV for your smart TV with topics like history, nature, science, food, technology, travel, and more a subscription to Curiosity Stream is just 14.99 for the whole year, to sign up go to curiositystream.com Animal Wonders and use the promo code Anima Wonders during the sign-up process a big thanks to Ellen Whittle, Donald Solik, Bat Conservation International, and Montana Fish, Wildlife, and Parks for sharing all the amazing bat footage in this video.

And thank you for going on this bat adventure with us, if you'd like to continue going on more animal adventures every week, be sure to subscribe, and we'll see you soon. Bye!