the.com/bats
the only mammals that figured out flight while everyone else was busy gliding badly
means Flying mammals with membranous wings, active mostly at night; also slang (as in 'bats' or 'batty') for crazy or eccentric.
from From Middle English 'bakke' or 'balke,' likely borrowed from a Scandinavian source — Old Swedish had 'natbakka,' literally 'night-flapper.' The form drifted from 'bakke' to 'bat' over the centuries, possibly nudged by association with the flapping 'flutter' of its wings. The 'crazy' sense comes from the phrase 'bats in the belfry' — picturing a head as an empty church tower full of erratically swooping bats — which gave us 'batty' and the dismissive 'bats.'
- echo vision
- they see darkness with sound, mapping bugs midair
- pollinator
- agave depends on bats, so does tequila
- upside down
- their veins lock so hanging costs zero energy
- longevity
- some live 40 years despite tiny size
- pest control
- one bat eats thousands of mosquitoes nightly
mexican free-tailed bat — largest bat colony: 20 million individuals in bracken cave, texas
kitti's hog-nosed bat — smallest mammal on earth at 1.3 inches, found in thailand
vampire bat — only mammal that feeds on blood, lives in central and south america