Chiroptera | |
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A Townsend's Big-Eared Bat. | |
Scientific Classification | |
Kingdom | Animalia |
Phylum | Chordata |
Class | Mammalia |
Order | Chiroptera |
The Chiroptera is an order from the Mammalia class. This group includes mammals whose forelimbs form webbed wings, making them the only mammals naturally capable of true and sustained flight.
Types of Bat
Characteristics
Bats are mammals. They are often mistakenly called "flying rodents" or "flying rats". However, they are not directly related to rodents, and much less to birds, and do not in fact have any closely related orders. Bats do not flap their entire forelimbs, as birds do, but instead flap their spread-out digits, which are very long and covered with a thin membrane or patagium. Bats eat mosquitoes, which makes them loveable.