The night skies are filled with over 1200 species of bats, which comprise twenty-two percent of all living mammals, and have a total population in the billions. Our lives and theirs are intimately linked?in ecological systems in which they are key pollinators, and in human health, as vectors of disease. Their abilities to echolocate have inspired incredible biotechnology. And yet there is no up to date book that conveys an ecological and economic significance of bats, which is as vast as their incredible wingspans.
This book is a tour of what is currently known about the biology of bats. It answers questions about where bats live; what they eat; why some bats hibernate and others migrate; why some live alone and others form large roosting aggregations, sometimes numbering in the millions; whether bats have their evolutionary roots with primates or some other mammalian group; how flight has influenced bat mating behavior; how bats use different sensory systems, from olfaction to hearing, to detect and capture prey; how and when bats reproduce and care for their young; what diseases they carry; why bats get bad press; and what we can do to protect and preserve these amazing mammals for future generations to benefit from and enjoy. The authors have studied bats the world over, from the petrified forests of Arizona to the rainforests of French Guiana, from Mayan ruins in Belize to the Hell Creek Badlands of Montana, from Tobago to Thailand. There are no better guides to echolocate generalists and specialists alike through the wonders of the bat world.
