Some animals have good reputations. Most people think of dogs as being friendly and reliable. Kittens are sweet and cuddly. Most people love dolphins, seals, and chimpanzees. Other animals such as bats, do not have such a good reputation. Many people are frightened of bats and believe that the small flying creatures will become tangled in their hair or give them rabies. There are many myths and superstitions surrounding bats. All of this makes it difficult for educators to tell people that bats are actually wonderful, useful, and amazing creatures.

More than 1,100 species of bats can be found in almost every region of the world, except for the extreme polar and desert regions. Bats, the only flying mammals in the world, vary in size, colour and habits. The smallest bat in the world has a wingspan of only five centimetres and weighs less than a penny. The largest bat has a wingspan of nearly two metres! Most bats eat insects, but some species feed on fruit, pollen, and nectar, and others eat small animals like fish, frogs, and rodents. Although many scary stories tell of vampire bats, only three species out of more than a thousand survive on the blood of other animals.

Bats are useful creatures. They consume large quantities of insects every evening. A single common brown bat can eat as many as 2,000 insects a night. Imagine how many more mosquito bites you would have each summer if bats were not busy patrolling the night sky.

In addition, some bats pollinate plants and flowers. They suck the nectar from one plant and then transfer the plant's pollen when they move on to feed from another plant. In rain forests, bats drop plant seeds as they move, which allows new plants to grow. In regions where the rain forests are in danger, bats perform a very important task, because they insure that new growth will replace plants and trees that have been cut down or destroyed.

Because bats are nocturnal creatures, they have the difficult task of catching all their meals in total darkness. However, bats can do this because of echolocation. Bats emit very high-pitched sounds that bounce off objects, no matter how small they are. Bats use the reflected sounds to form pictures in their brains of where things are located. In this way they can find a mosquito flying through the air in complete darkness!

I. Word List

reputation: what people think about a person or animal (good or bad)

rabies: a very dangerous kind of sickness

myths: stories that are not true

penny: a very small coin

consume: eat

patrolling: looking very carefully

nocturnal: active at night

II. Vocabulary skills

1. what others think about the quality of someone or something: r _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

2. amounts: q _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

3. active at night: n _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

4. different, unlike others: s _ _ _ _ _ _

5. a place where one lives: h _ _ _ _

III. Reading skills—Answer the following questions.

1. How does echolocation work?

___________________________________________________________.

2. What does the writer think about bats?

___________________________________________________________.

3. Why are some people afraid of bats?

___________________________________________________________.

4. What are two ways that different species of bats may be different?

___________________________________________________________.

5. What are some things that bats eat?

___________________________________________________________.

IV. Circle the sentences that are true.

1. Some bats pollinate plants and flowers.

2. More than 3,000 species of bats exist.

3. Bats are nocturnal creatures.

4. Bats only eat insects.

5. The smallest bat weighs less than a penny.