Do Bats Drink Blood?: Fascinating Answers to Questions about Bats

Barbara A. Schmidt-French, Carol A Butler

Rutgers University Press, Aug 31, 2009 - Nature - 176 pages

Bat biologist Barbara A. Schmidt-French and writer Carol A. Butler offer a compendium of insightful facts about bats in this accessible and expertly written question-and-answer volume. Numbering more than one thousand species in our world today, bats in the wild are generally unthreatening. Like most other mammals, bats are curious, affectionate, and even playful with one another.

Highly beneficial animals, bats are critical to global ecological, economic, and public health. Do Bats Drink Blood? illuminates the role bats play in the ecosystem, their complex social behavior, and how they glide through the night sky using their acute hearingłecholocation skills that have helped in the development of navigational aids for the blind. Personal in voice with the perspective of a skilled bat researcher, this book explores wideranging topics as well as common questions people have about bats, providing a trove of fascinating facts.

Featuring rare color and black-and-white photographs, including some by renowned biologist, photographer, and author Merlin Tuttle, Do Bats Drink Blood? provides a comprehensive resource for general readers, students, teachers, zoo and museum enthusiasts, farmers and orchardists, or anyone who may encounter or be fascinated by these extraordinary animals.

Contents

• ONE Bat Basics: 1
• How many species of bats are there in the world?: 4
• Where in the world are bats found?: 6
• When did bats evolve?: 7
• Are all bats black?: 9
• How long do bats live?: 11
• Which is the smallest bat?: 12
• How high do bats fly?: 14
• Are bats intelligent?: 15
• Do bats drink blood?: 19
• TWO Bat Bodies: 22
• Why do bats hang upside down?: 23
• Do bats have teeth?: 27
• Can bats walk?: 28
• How fast do bats grow?: 29
• Are bats blind?: 30
• Why do bats have big ears?: 31
• THREE Bat Life: 34
• Where do bats live?: 39
• Why do bats like caves?: 42
• Do bats only fly at night?: 43
• What do bats do during the day?: 45
• Do all bats live in groups?: 46
• What is bat guano?: 47
• Do bats migrate?: 48
• Do bats hibernate?: 51
• FOUR Bat Behavior: 53
• How do bats navigate in the dark?: 57
• Do all bats use echolocation to find food?: 63
• Are bats the only animals that use 1 2 3 4 echolocation?: 64
• How do bats communicate?: 66
• How do bats manage extreme heat?: 68
• How do bats manage extreme cold?: 69
• 9: 70
• Can bats swim?: 71
• FIVE Bat Love: 72
• Are bats monogamous?: 73
• How do bats reproduce?: 74
• How many pups are in a litter?: 76
• Do bat mothers take care of their young?: 77
• Do bat fathers take care of their offspring?: 79
• SIX Dangers and Defenses: 81
• SEVEN Bats and People: 93
• Can bats be domesticated?: 114
• References: 123
• Index: 149

About the author

Barbara A. Schmidt-French is a biologist, bat rehabilitator, and the science officer at Bat Conservation International. She is the coauthor of Medical Reference for the Rehabilitation and Captive Care of Insectivorous Bats.
Carol A. Butler is the coauthor of Salt Marshes: A Natural and Unnatural History(Rutgers University Press) and the coauthor/photographer of Do Butterflies Bite? Fascinating Answers to Questions about Butterflies and Moths and future Rutgers Animal Q&A books, including Do Hummingbirds Hum? and Why Do Bees Buzz?

Bibliographic information

• Title: Do Bats Drink Blood?: Fascinating Answers to Questions about Bats; Animals Q & A
• Authors: Barbara A. Schmidt-French, Carol A Butler
• Edition: illustrated
• Publisher: Rutgers University Press, 2009
• ISBN: 0813548403, 9780813548401
• Length: 176 pages
• Subjects: Nature / Animals / Mammals; Science / Reference