A Portrait Gallery of the Bat Family

Bats occur in many shapes and sizes. They can be as small as bumblebees or so big that they have a wingspan of two metres. Some have extra-large ears, others round heads, and again others shrivelled faces. The face of a bat gives a lot of information about its feeding and orientation habits.

The big eyes and the small ears of the "flying fox" indicate that it "sees" where it is flying to. It does not use echo sounding for its orientation.

The extra-large, long ears of the "long-eared bat" tell their tale. These bats would be right up the creek without their excellent echo-sounder system.

The "horseshoe bat" possesses a semi-circle of cartilage-like tissue around its nostrils, which is very important for echo transmission. In addition, it has big ears.

The "wrinkle-faced bat" feeds on fruits. The function of its ugly wrinkles in the face is not clear, yet.

The vampire is very specialised. Its front teeth are developed into two triangular razor blades. It carefully sinks the teeth into a sleeping mammal, and afterwards hops aside to lick from the wound. It too gets its bearings by means of echo-sound. The reason why dogs are rarely attacked by these animals is that dogs can perceive high frequencies, and therefore hear, when they are approached by a vampire.