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Bats Bats belong to the order Chiroptera, which is comprised of two main groups (suborders) of bats. These are the microchiropteran or small (micro) bats and the megachiropteran (large) bats such as the flying foxes. |
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Bats and cultures The Zotzil Maya take their name from the Maya word for "bat", zotz. They live in "zotzil ha"(bat's house) and their capital in Chiapas, Mexico is Zinacantan, Nauatl for "place of the bat". |
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Bats worldwide On may islands in the Indo-Pacific, bats are the only vertebrate pollinators and seed dispersers. The elimination of these bats would cause seed dispersal and tree reproduction to cease. |
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Echo location It is the small, insectivorous bats, the Microchiroptera, that have highly developed echo location abilities which account for 70% of all bat species. |
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Vampires Of the nearly 1,000 bat species worldwide, only one will feed on the blood of large mammals: the Common Vampire Bat. Like its other two relatives, it lives only in Latin America. |
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