4th reflective journal

Bat? do blood sucking bats exist?

Well, there are bats that suck blood and they are aptly known as vampire bats.

A vampire bat bites other animals and drinks their blood. A vampire bat may bite a sleeping horse, cow, or even a person, without being noticed. First, its sharp teeth make a shallow cut. Then the bat simply laps up a small amount of blood and flies away. The chief danger to the victim, (unlike what most gothic movies and books suggest) is not loss of blood but rather infection. This is because vampire bats are known carriers of rabies, a “fatal viral disease that infects domestic and wild animals and is spread through people through close contact with infected saliva”.

Description of Bats The bat is described as a mouselike nocturnal flying mammal of the family Chiroptera. The word Chiroptera, means "hand wing". It is a mouse-like animal with forelimbs modified to form wings. They navigate and hunt prey by echolocation. Bats are the only mammals that can truly fly. Facts about the Size of Bats The smallest microbat, the Pipistrellus nanus of Central Africa, is only 4 cm (1.5 in) long and has a wingspan of only 12.5 cm (about 5 in). The biggest of the bats is called the Pteropus vampyrus, comes from Java and achieves a wingspan of 1.4 m (nearly 5 ft) and a body length of 42 cm (16.7 in)! Species of Bats There are almost 1,000 species of Bats! These many species are divided into two sub-orders: Megachiroptera (Large Bat or magabats) Microchiroptera (Small Bat or microbats) i will talk a little bit more in my next journal - Afiqah(12)