This Holidays

Writen by Jack Igan

The Halloween Bat. Did you know that...

At this time of year you can expect to find the Halloween bat all over town. They are

everywhere. You can see them in almost every window, pasted on doors, and very often even

hanging from porches. As familiar as they are, there are some important and interesting

facts that you probably did not know about them.

* First off, bats are the only mammals that have the ability to fly. * There are over one thousand different species of bats.

The most frequently occurring Halloween bat we have is the blood sucking Vampire bat. The

vampire drinks blood. How spooky is that. And, how appropriate for a Halloween bat. But the

truth of the matter is that this bat suffers greatly from an undeserved bad reputation.

Here are some facts that may change your mind about this fellow, the Vampire bat.

* To begin with, the Vampire bat is pretty small. He is the size of a small mouse. * Vampire bats very seldom bite humans. This is an extremely infrequent occurrence. * Vampire bats do not normally kill their prey by biting them. Actually, they feed on small

amounts of blood they suck from other resting mammals and birds. They do this by making a

shallow cut with their specialized incisor teeth. * Finally, the Halloween bat does never morphs itself into the more familiar blood-sucking

vampire.

Now that you know all abut the Halloween Vampire bat, you can go trick or treating with the

firm knowledge that some flying devil will not come screeching out of the night sky to suck

you dry of your blood. Boo!

Bats in general are really extraordinary, tiny animals. Here are a few more things you

should know to perk up the conversation at your next blood-vomit punch party. Share the

knowledge!

* Bats have a thumb and four fingers on each hand. These fingers are the bones or 'struts'

they use to spread their thin, skin membranes into flying wings. As they stretch their

fingers the skin unfolds into wings. * A bat's fingers are especially long. If a human being had fingers that were as long as a

bat's, comparatively, their fingers would be dragging on the ground. Sort of a permanent

manicure. * Bats are not blind as most people think. The truth is they can see just as well as a human

being. * Not all bats have radar. Actually, none of them do. But, some bats use echolocation, a

sonar like system used by dolphins, bats, and other animals to detect and locate objects. They send out an unsually high-pitched 'squeak', just like sonar. The squeak reflects off

an object and returns to the animal's ears or other sensory receptors. This is how they

find their prey but, again, while most bat species can do this not all have this ability.

The Halowen bat is as familiar as Santa Claus or the Easter Bunny. It's no wonder why

weenjoy the treats and innocent pranks of Halloween so much. Here are some great websites

you can visit to help you get the most out of your holiday for yourself and your children.

First, the freebies: http://www.free-halloween-stuff.vati.com - Free Halloween

Stuff. This second website has a nifty Halloween bat-pack that chases your computer

mouse around the screen - http://www.hypergurl.com/games/halloweenbats.html . The last is a

wonderful website to share with your children -

http://www.kidzone.ws/animals/bats/index.htm.