BATS

Bats represent about 20% of all classified mammal species worldwide, with about 1,240 bat species divided into two suborders: the less specialized and largely fruit-eating megabats, or flying foxes, and the more highly specialized and echolocating microbats. About 70% of bats areinsectivores. Most of the rest are frugivores, or fruit eaters. A few species, such as the fish-eating bat, feed from animals other than insects, with thevampire bats being the only parasitic mammalian species. Bats are present throughout most of the world, performing vital ecological roles ofpollinating flowers and dispersing fruit seeds.