Flying Fox or Fuit Bat
by Venetia Featherstone-Witty
Title
Flying Fox or Fuit Bat
Artist
Venetia Featherstone-Witty
Medium
Photograph - Photography
Description
Bats are mammals of the order Chiroptera whose forelimbs form webbed wings, making them the only mammals naturally capable of true and sustained flight.By contrast, other mammals said to fly, such as flying squirrels, gliding possums, and colugos, can only glide for short distances. Bats do not flap their entire forelimbs, as birds do, but instead flap their spread-out digits, which are very long and covered with a thin membrane or patagium.Bats are present throughout most of the world, performing vital ecological roles of pollinating flowers and dispersing fruit seeds. Many tropical plant species depend entirely on bats for the distribution of their seeds. Bats are important, as they consume insect pests, reducing the need for pesticides.
FEATURED 11/23/14 in "Wildlife One A Day"
FEATURED 2/5/15 in "Animals and Birds in the Wild"
FEATURED 2/6/15 in "The Artistic Forager"
Uploaded
July 15th, 2014
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