- Bats are the only mammals that can fly.
- There are 900 species of bat worldwide. Seventeen can be found in Canada.
- The little brown bat inhabits all U.S. states and Canadian provinces and territories except Nunavut.
- Batman is a DC Comics superhero who first appeared in 1939. His true identity is Bruce Wayne, a bumbling billionaire philanthropist who created his crime-fighting alter-ego after his parents were murdered.
- Bats rest hanging upside down so they just have to let go to take flight.
- The term “corking a bat” usually refers to something baseball players do to lighten their bats and speed up their swing.
- An average little brown bat weighs only 8 grams but has a wingspan of 22 centimetres.
- The not-so little penis of the little brown bat is nearly a quarter of its body length.
- Bats hunt by emitting high-pitched screeches and honing in on prey by listening for the echos bouncing off flying insects (hence the big ears).
- The little brown bat eats by flipping insects into its mouth with its wings. It can catch and eat 10 insects a minute and consume an amount equal to its own weight in one night.
- Bruce Wayne took in a 16-year-old orphaned circus acrobat named Dick Grayson, who became his sidekick, Robin.
- Ten years is an average lifespan for the little brown bat, but one banded specimen in Ontario reached an age of 35 years.
- Disturbing a hibernating bat costs it the energy it would use during 60 days of hibernation.
- Unlike many superheroes, Batman does not possess superpowers. To wage his war on crime, he employs his keen intellect and has trained himself in chemistry, criminology, forensics, martial arts, gymnastics, disguise, escapology and ventriloquism, or so says Wikipedia.
This article first appeared in the Summer 2006 issue of Canoeroots Magazine.
