Microbats ( microchiroptera), as their name implies, are generally much smaller than megabats. Most microbats feed on insects, and microbats typically hunt using echolocation. Most bats in the world fall into this category. Micros usually roost in large caves, tunnels, or old mine shafts. Microbats can be very small, in fact it takes about 100 pipistrelle bats to weigh 1 pound. More amazing than that, it takes only 1 square foot to house a cluster of three hundred Mexican Freetail bats.

So where does the vampire bat fit into all of this? Well, the vampire bat is a microbat, and it does indeed use echolocation to search for food. Now, as far as species goes, there certainly aren’t 65species of vampire bats. There are only three known species; the Common Vampire bat, the White winged Vampire bat, and the hairy legged vampire bat. Scientists know relatively little about these bats, although the common vampire bat is much more widespread, and more is known about it.

When this Tepes, who was also known as Vlad the Impaler, faced an invading army that outnumbered his own, he knew that he had to scare off his enemies in order to defeat them. So, like the smart and undoubtedly evil man that he was, he resorted to scare tactics. He hung up the dead bodies of countless enemy soldiers on stakes along the road, and had his soldiers howl like wolves at night. And so do you think his plan worked? Well, heck yes his plan worked! The invaders eventually retreated.

Now, because of all this, Europeans were able to create a new tale. Yes, the Legend of Count Dracula was born. They told tales of how Dracula was a nobleman who slept during the day. They of course, also added in that he drank the blood from peoples necks as they slept. As the story was told again and again, new details were added. Many said that Dracula could transform into a bat, and many also said that he could transform others into vampires. Others still said that these supposed “vampires” could be repelled with garlic, or killed with a stake through the heart. And so the legendary tale of Dracula had become infamous.

This story, undoubtedly caused people of Europe, North America, and South America to fear bats. Despite this, in other parts of the world, many people like bats, For example, in Asia, people believe that bats bring good luck. There are many Chinese designs that depict bats flying in a circle. This design is a symbol of continuous good luck an happiness. As you can see, many people understand that bats don’t really deserve their bad reputation. Many are starting to see all of the ways that bats help humankind.

Bats are Blind

As we have learned, bats are not blind and many have keen vision that compares well with our own or that of owls. Why then, do we have that myth?

Virtually all bats are nocturnal, conducting most of their business in the hours of darkness. The eyes of most bats are specialized for nighttime operation, so in bright sunlight, bats tend to squint. Since bats are small to begin with, small squinted eyes are hard to see unless you look very closely.

A casual glance at a bat in bright light leaves the impression that it has no eyes. Echolocation, well known from many bats, also contributes to the myth. It seems natural to assume that animals with this elegant specialization would not need vision at all.

Bats Get into your Hair

While there are many bats that have been trained to land in others hair, there is no `evidence to support the myth that hair seeking is normal in bats. So what natural behavior could account for this myth? Well, insectivores’ bats typically fly near people. This often occurs in the summer when hoards of mosquitoes often surround people. Thus, the bat will fly close to a person in order to eat the mosquitoes.

The second occurs when a bat is flying in a room. When the bat approaches a wall, it will slow down. To counter this stall, it will then swoop low and regain airspeed. To a human, it may appear as if the bat is diving towards human hair.

The oldest known fossil microbat, called Icaronycteris index was found near Yellowstone Park in Wyoming. It lived 50 million years ago. Fossil bats that lived 45 million years ago have been found in Germany. Some of them were so well preserved that the fossilized remains of insects were found in their gut. Surprisingly, the fossilized bats that were found very closely resemble the bats that we know today.

As far as the vampire bat goes, there has long been the question of why they feed on blood. Many propose that the vampire bat originated from fruit eating bats. Another theory says that the bats developed a taste for blood from feeding on ticks and other blood feeding insects. It is also a mystery that the vampire bat lives in only the new world tropics 9 central and South America). Another theory states that the bats began to feed on insects and insect larvae found in wounds on large animals.
Throughout the tropics, screwworms lay their eggs in wounds and the larvae develop into large numbers. This theory identifies as to why the vampire bat is only found in the new world. None of these theories has been proved, evidence from proteins say that the vampire bat has been around for 6 to 8 million years.

Another question, is the age of the bat. This is quite difficult, as young bats grow rapidly. Fur color can provide a clue though, in many bats, the young have dark and blackish fur as compared to the lighter colored fur in adults. Another indicator is found at the finger joints. Adult bats have knobby finger joints, and young bats have smooth ones. The adult ones are knobby because bone formation is complete. The smooth ones of the young reflect incomplete growth.

After detecting the gender and age, the next step is to identify the species. This depends on the variety of bats living where it was caught. Identifying a bat in Hawaii is easy because there is only one species that lives there. But, compare this to the more than 50 species in many parts of Africa, and the more than 100 in some countries in South and Central America.

A first step is to identify which of the 19 living families it belongs to. Sometimes the family name will provide a clue, for example, the New World disk-winged Bats have distinctive adhesive disks on their wrists and ankles and live only in the New World. The Old World Disk-Winged Bats, also have this but occur only in the Old World, only in Madagascar. Usually the details of the bats appearance are used to decide its family affiliations.

Many features may be used to distinguish between species of bats. Wherever possible, they will rely on obvious objective features like size, number of teeth, and color.