The Genius BatThe Genius Bat

"An awe-inspiring tour of bat world. With nearly 1,500 species, bats account for more than 20 percent of mammalian species. The most successful and most diverse group of mammals, bats come in different shapes, sizes, and colors--from the tiny bumblebee bat to the giant golden-crowned flying fox. Some bats eat fruit and nectar; others eat frogs, scorpions, or fish. Vampire bats feed on blood. Bats are the only mammals that can fly; their fingers have elongated through evolution to become wings with a unique superflexible skin membrane stretched between them. Their robust immune system is one of the reasons for their extreme longevity. A tiny bat can live for forty years. Yossi Yovel, an ecologist and a neurobiologist, is passionate about discovering the secrets of bats, including using AI to decipher their communication. In The Genius Bat, he brings to vivid life these amazing creatures, as well as the obsessive and sometime eccentric people who study them--bat scientists. From muddy rainforests to star-covered night deserts, from guesthouses in Thailand to museum drawers full of fossils in New York, this is an eye-opening and entertaining account of a mighty mammal"--