The secret life of bats

Of the world's 4,800 or so species of mammals, nearly 1,000--almost one in five--are bats. They vary in size from minuscule, almost butterfly-sized creatures, to huge animals with wingspans of nearly two metres. Thanks to their mastery of powered flight, bats are distributed across much of the world. They feed mainly on insects and fruits, but some eat nectar, frogs, fish, other small mammals or even blood.

Everyone reacts to bats, sometimes with horror but more often with fascination. Although they are linked in many people's minds with scary films, the truth about these amazing creatures' lives is very different. In this seminar, Phil Richardson, chairman of the Bat Conservation Trust in the UK, goes behind the scenes and reveals that bats have a complex lifestyle, a rich social life and senses that are almost beyond our comprehension.

Amazing, fascinating and bizarre are words that barely start to describe the bats of the world. Some are big, some are tiny, many eat insects and fruit, yet there are others with more unusual tastes in food such as the fisherman bat which uses its claws to catch fish or the unjustly demonized blood-eating vampire bats. Bats will not fly into your hair and they are not blind, though most find their food and avoid obstacles in the darkness of night not by vision but by using their remarkable and highly developed sense of echolocation. Their role in pollination is crucial to the environment in which they live. Bats are full of surprises.

The secret life of bats