Bats Are the Only Mammals That Can Truly Fly

Plenty of animals glide, but only one group of mammals truly flies. The U.S. National Park Service states that bats are the only true flying mammals. They are mammals in every other way, too. The Park Service lists what that means: bats give live birth to their young and do not lay eggs, they are warm-blooded, they have fur rather than feathers, and baby bats, called pups, are fed breast milk by their mothers. Carlsbad Caverns National Park is famous for them. Its large colony of Brazilian free-tailed bats draws visitors every evening from spring through fall for spectacular outflights. Each of those bats weighs about half an ounce, the weight of three nickel coins. Bats face a serious threat. A fungus called White-nose Syndrome has killed an estimated 7 million or more bats in the United States.