Bat

Townsend's big eared bat

Bats are flying mammals in the order Chiroptera. The forelimbs of bats are webbed and developed as wings, making them the only mammals naturally capable of true and sustained flight. 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.

There are about 1,100 bat species worldwide, which represent about twenty percent of all classified mammal species. About seventy percent of bats are insectivores. Most of the rest are frugivores, or fruit eaters. A few species feed from animals other than insects. Bats are present throughout most of the world and perform vital ecological roles such as pollinating flowers and dispersing fruit seeds. Many tropical plant species depend entirely on bats for the distribution of their seeds.

Although bats are not rodents, the vague resemblance of certain bat species to mice has long been noted in folklore. Examples of this can be found in the archaic English synonyms for "bat", such as reremouse and flittermouse. Similarly, the traditional German word for bat is Fledermaus, although in recent decades Fledertier has been proposed as a more accurate substitute.

Bats have also traditionally been associated with vampires.

Bat in Atlantis

The bat was the only viviparous animal native to the continent of Atlantis.

John James Audubon found it peculiar, during his 1843 expedition to Atlantis, that the bats on the island spent more of their time scurrying on the ground than flying. His companion Edward Harris remarked that the bats in New Zealand behave in a similar manner. This set Audubon to thinking about the similarities between the two islands' ecological histories.

Bat in "Batboy"

When the St. Louis Browns were in New York City, several of them reported seeing a bat flapping around the hotel windows. Bats were not a typical New York sight, but this was not a typical bat.

Bat in "A Late Symmer Night's Battle"

Reremice were feared beasts in the fairy world. Many a subject of King Oberon and Queen Titania had lost loved ones to the fearsome creatures, including Peaseblossom.

Reremice indirectly brought an end to the war between the fairies and the kobolds when they attacked both sides after the first battle. Ghosh, the human toddler in Titania's charge, had discovered a massive cave while digging holes. When the reremice attacked, the fairies went into the caves, and decided to allow the kobolds to join them, thereby securing peace.

The kobolds called reremice by the name Die Fledermäuse.

Bat in Videssos

Bats, aka flittermice, were objects of fear in Namdalener folk wisdom. Bats were called "Skotos' chickens," as it was thought that only the power of the dark god could enable the creatures to fly so unerringly by night.