bats

Bats make up almost a quarter of the world’s mammal species and play a fundamental role in our ecosystems. This book presents these fascinating nocturnal creatures in a new light. Lush, full-color photographs portray bats in flight, feeding, and mating in views that show them in exceptional detail. The photographs also take the reader into the roosts of bats, from caves and mines to the tents some bats build out of leaves. A comprehensive guide to what scientists know about the world of bats, the book begins with a look at bats’ origins and evolution. The book goes on to address a host of questions related to flight, diet, habitat, reproduction, and social structure.
A chapter on biosonar, or echolocation, takes readers through the system of high-pitched calls bats emit to navigate and catch prey. More than half of the world’s bat species are either in decline or already considered endangered, and the book concludes with suggestions for what we can do to protect these species for future generations to benefit from and enjoy.

When Don Mitchell was approached by a biologist with the Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department about tracking endangered Indiana bats on his 150-acre farm, Mitchell’s relationship with bats, and with government, could be characterized as distrustful, at best. But the flying rats, as Mitchell initially thinks of them, launched him on a series of “improvements” to his land that would provide a more welcoming habitat for the bats, and a modest tax break for himself and his family. Mitchell’s tale is as profound as it is funny, a journey that changes Mitchell’s relationship with Chiroptera, the land, and, ultimately, his understanding of his own past. Ruminating on the nature of authority, the purview of the state, and the value of inhabiting one’s niche, Mitchell reveals much about our inner and outer landscape, in this perfectly paced and skilled story of place.

This title is not held in stock but we are happy to supply on special order. Please contact us. Advances in morphological and molecular methods continue to uncover new information on the origin and evolution of bats. This book presents some of the most remarkable discoveries and research involving living and fossil bats, and explores their evolutionary history from a range of perspectives. Phylogenetic studies based on both molecular and morphological data have established a framework of evolutionary relationships that provides a context for understanding many aspects of bat biology and diversification. In addition to detailed studies of the relationships and diversification of bats, the topics covered include the mechanisms and evolution of powered flight, evolution and enhancement of echolocation, feeding ecology, population genetic structure, ontogeny and growth of facial form, functional morphology and evolution of body size. The book also examines the fossil history of bats from their beginnings over 50 million years ago to their diversification into one of the most globally wide-spread orders of mammals living today. Also available in hardcover [stock id 33897].

The second largest order of mammals, Chiroptera comprises more than one thousand species of bats. Because of their mobility, bats are often the only native mammals on isolated oceanic islands, where more than half of all bat species live. These island bats represent an evolutionarily distinctive and ecologically significant part of the earth’s biological diversity. Island Bats is the first book to focus solely on the evolution, ecology, and conservation of bats living in the world’s island ecosystems. Among other topics, the contributors to this volume examine how the earth’s history has affected the evolution of island bats, investigate how bat populations are affected by volcanic eruptions and hurricanes, and explore the threat of extinction from human disturbance. Geographically diverse, the volume includes studies of the islands of the Caribbean, the Western Indian Ocean, Micronesia, Indonesia, the Philippines, and New Zealand. With its wealth of information from long-term studies, Island Bats provides timely and valuable information about how this fauna has evolved and how it can be conserved.