Bats Aren’t Blind

Why are there so many myths about bats?

Interesting Facts in Easy English

Pre-Listening Vocabulary

  • accurate: fully correct
  • simile: a figure of speech for comparing one thing to another, often with “like” or “as”
  • mammal: a warm-blood animal that nurses its young
  • misleading: causing someone to think something that is not true
  • echo: a sound that occurs due to a reflection of sound waves off an object
  • prey: a living thing that is hunted and used for food
  • nocturnal: active at night; at rest during daylight

Bats Aren’t Blind

The “blind as a bat” is not an accurate simile. Studies suggest that bats rely on visual landmarks just like birds do. Unlike birds, bats are mammals. The only mammal in the world that can fly is the bat. Some species of bats fly about when hunting for insects. This may be the misleading expression comes from. It is true that bats don’t have strong night vision. Nocturnal bats rely on a sonar system called echolocation. They deliver a call and wait for an echo. The echo tells the bats how far away they are from an object. This helps bats find their way around at night. It also helps them catch their prey. Not all bats are nocturnal, though. Large fruit bats don’t live in caves and actually like the daylight. Only a few of more than 1000 species of bats feed on .

Comprehension Questions

  1. What type of animal is a bat?
  2. What is echolocation?
  3. Identify three myths about bats that are busted in this report.

Discussion Questions: Only a small amount of people are bitten by bats each year, while thousands of people are bitten by dogs. Why are so many people terrified of bats?

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