THE NIGHT VISITOR The The sky darkens as the sun sets A light wind blows through the trees Soon a dark shadow appears in the sky At first the shadow looks like a bird It darts between trees as if chasing something Then it swoops down low The shadow has a furry face and large pointed ears A swarm of bats in Thailand sets out to hunt 5 CHAPTER 1
These traits leave no doubt The night visitor is a bat Bats live in all parts of the globe except for Earth’s polar regions In total there are more than 1,200 bat species A WORLD OF BATS Highest number of bat species Lowest number of bat species 6
Bats live in forests mountains farmland and cities Most species prefer warm weather But some species live in Alaska and other cold places Bats are nocturnal This means they sleep during the day At night bats take to the sky in search of food Many bats eat insects Some bats prefer nectar or fruit Others eat birds fish and even other bats Bats use their strong sense of hearing to find their prey One little brown bat can eat up to 500 mosquitoes in an hour Bats are the top nighttime predator of insects They help keep insect populations under control 7
