Is a bat a minibeast

NO, bats are mammals.

· Bats use echolocation to catch prey

· send out high frequency sound waves to find objects in their path

· echolocation calls are ultrasonic - beyond human hearing range in most cases but there is the Spotted Bat (euderma maculatum) which uses lower frequency echolocation calls which can be heard by people

· Canada has 19 species of bats

· life span of over 30 years

· bats are mammals - warm-blooded, give birth to live young

· wings are folds of skin supported by elongated finger bones

· resting bad hang head downward - making it easy to take to flight at any given moment

· average sized Canadian bat - weighs 8 g, wing span of about 22 cm

· larges Canadian species weighs about 30 g, wing span of 40 cm

· smallest Canadian species weighs about 5 g

· bats are not blind - they can see very well

· bats are nocturnal creatures

· bats in Canada feed on insects - will consume 50-100 percent of their body weight in one night