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... bats are blind. UNTRUE. All bats can see. Microbats also happen to have a phenomenal ability to process sound for purposes
of navigation and prey capture.
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... bats will get tangled in your hair. HMMM. Bats can capture tiny insects while simultaneously avoiding branches and other
obstacles in their path. The chance of one blundering into an object the size of your head is remote.
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... all bats suck blood. NOPE. Of over 1000 species of bat worldwide, 3/4 eat insects. The next most popular food item
is fruit. Others eat pollen and nectar, fish, frogs, or other vertebrates. Three species eat (not suck) blood and are called
vampires; they live in the New World tropics.
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... all bats carry rabies. INCORRECT. Less than 1/10 of 1% of wild bats have rabies. A bat must be sick with the disease
to pass it to another animal via a bite. Bats with the disease become progressively paralyzed. The mere presence of bats
does not pose a health threat to humans.
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... bats are mice with wings. NOT. Bats belong to an entirely different group of mammals from rodents. Bats' hands are
formed into wings. Their incisors, if present, are usually small. Most have a single pup or twins, not litters. And they
tend to live a long time for small mammals.
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... actually, you probably haven't heard this one. According to an Egyptian legend, a bat encountering a human will attach
to the person's face and not let go unless he (the person) plays a Dara Buka drum. Although I've never been to Egypt, drumless
biologists encountering bats there have come and gone without any attaching incidents.
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