BillBatBoy.ca
Title
Bill Bat Boy: Bat & Rodent Exclusions and Lectures for the Toronto, Brantford and Georgian Bay, Ontario area
Description
When some people hear the word "Bats", it sends chills down their spines and raises the little hairs on the back of their necks. The primary reason for their fears stems from the many exaggerated old myths and Hollywood stories. Traditionally in western countries bats are portrayed as evil, dirty, blind, disease carrying, flying rats that will fly into your hair or suck all the blood out of your body while you are sleeping. It is interesting to see the contrast in the beliefs in other areas of the world. For example in China bats have a much different representation. They see bats as sign of bravery, strength, health, wealth, fertility and good luck. This is evident when you see bat symbols decorating their jewelry, pottery, weapons, drapes, and furniture.
Many people assume that the closest relative to bats are rodents. Even though rodents look similar to some bats, they are not their closest relative. If you look carefully at the bat's body you can see that they have a very similar skeleton to primates (Photo1). The greatest difference is that they have very long fingers with a thin membrane of skin stretched between each of the four fingers and body. This frame covered with skin and strong muscles, work as wings and allow the bats to fly. Bats are the only mammals that truly fly.
Bats are a very successful, diverse, nocturnal group of mammals with approximately 950 living species (See Bat Photos). Flight makes bats unique among mammals and their mobility corresponds to a very wide distribution, found almost everywhere in the world except the Arctic and Antarctic. The Bat world has two groups, the Mega-bats (150 species) and Micro-bats (800 species).
