ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, October 19, 1996 TAG: 9610210106
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 8 EDITION: METRO
* Brown bats can live more than 32 years, but only produce one offspring per year.
* The bat is the only mammal that flies; bats make up 25 percent of all mammals.
* Fishing bats' echolocation - or sonar - is so sophisticated it can detect a minnow's fin or a human hair protruding only two millimeters above a pond's surface.
* African heart-nosed bats can hear the footsteps of a beetle walking on sand from a distance of more than six feet.
* The little brown bat, common in this area, can catch about 600 mosquitoes in an hour.
* If a rain forest is cut down, it needs bats in order to grow back; they pollinate flowers and distribute seeds through their droppings (guano).
* Bat droppings in caves support whole ecosystems of unique organisms, including bacteria used in detoxyfying wastes, improving detergents and producing antibiotics.
* An anticoagulant from vampire bat saliva may soon be used to treat human heart patients.
* Because bats eat such a phenomenal amount of insects, they decrease the demand for chemical pesticides.
LENGTH: Short : 32 linesby CNB