A small bat flittered by me…

Greater mouse-eared bat (Myotis myotis) P/C C. Robillier, from Wikimedia.

… early one summer evening a few weeks ago, flashing in a hinky-jinky flight path across the blueing sky. Bats have always been creatures of wonder and mystery so they’re a natural fit for this week’s SRS Challenge.

I didn’t get a decent image of the bat I saw (or more properly–barely perceived, it was so fast and dark). I’m 99% sure it was a Little Brown Bat (Myotis, spp.), but, as usual, that got me to thinking about bats…

This week’s Challenge is another in our end of year series of Challenges that are not-too-hard-but-fun. I’ve been curious about bats for a while and have always wondered a couple of things. Can you find the answers to these curious questions?

1. Why do bats hang upside down when they sleep? (It seems like a terrible idea to hang by your feet, so what drove them to adopt this unique sleeping posture?)

Fruit bat in tree in typical roosting posture. P/C OSHA.gov

2. I’m not really a bat-ologist (that is, a chiropterologist), but I’ve seen many different kinds of bat in my travels and that makes me wonder: Just how many different kinds of bat species are there?

3. We know many bats eat bugs, and some bats drink blood (vampire bats), and some eat fruit (fruit bats)… but what eats bats? Do they have any natural predators? (Let’s exclude humans for the purposes of this discussion. As we know, humans will eat just about anything.)

As usual, please let us know what you’ve discovered and HOW you found the answer to this week’s Challenge.

(And yes, I know, I’m a week after Halloween. Things take time.)

Search on!