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Bats Trivia Questions and Answers

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1. In the early 21st century, how many species of bats had been identified?


Answer: Over 900

Interesting Information:
Bats are an amazingly abundant animal. In the early part of the 21st century, approximately 925 different species of bats had been identified. That is around 20% of all known living mammal species! Difficulty: Average.

From Quiz: Some Interesting Things About Bats
 
Some incorrect choices:
Fewer than 75, Approximately 280, Approximately 620

2. What type of animal are bats?


Answer: Mammal

Interesting Information:
Bats are nocturnal mammals. They are the only mammals that have wings and are capable of true flight. Difficulty: Very Easy.

From Quiz: Creatures of the Night
 
Some incorrect choices:
Insect, Computer, Bird

3. All bats belong to the order Chiroptera, from the Greek 'cheir' and 'pteron', but what do these words mean in English?


Answer: Hand wing

Interesting Information:
That's right, 'cheir' or 'kheir' means hand in Greek. If you're a chemist you may have used the same root when talking about the chirality of a certain compound, this is where there exists a mirror image compound which is non-superposable to the original.

'Pteron' is perhaps more familiar, with the Pterosaur being one of the first vertebrates to have developed flight. They roamed the earth from the late Triassic, through to the end of the Cretaceous Period. Difficulty: Hard.

From Quiz: A Wing and a Prayer
 
Some incorrect choices:
Night fly, Arm flap, Blood sucker

4. How did the bumblebee bat receive its name?


Answer: It is the approximate size of an adult bumblebee

Interesting Information:
The bumblebee bat received its name because it is the size of an adult bee. The bumblebee bat has a small stature and can weigh as little as a dime. This makes them the smallest species of bat discovered.
Difficulty: Hard.

From Quiz: The Bumblebee Bat
 
Some incorrect choices:
Bumblebee bats feed and pollinate flowers, They make bee-like sounds, None of these

5. Where are vampire bats found?


Answer: Central and South America

From Quiz: Vampire Bats
 
Some incorrect choices:
Europe, Africa, Australia

6. Sink your fangs into this question. How long can a common brown bat live? (Hint- it holds the world record for longest lifespan for a creature of this size).


Answer: over 32 years

Interesting Information:
According to Bats Conservation International, the common brown bat can live over 32 yrs. Difficulty: Hard.

From Quiz: Twinkle, Twinkle Little Bat
 
Some incorrect choices:
more than a century, about 60 years, a dozen or so years

7. What is the largest bat found in continental Africa?


Answer: Hammerhead bat

Interesting Information:
The hammerhead bat is named for a protrusion on the front of the male bat's face that looks like a hammer. The female does not have this protuberance. The female is also half the size of the male. Besides being the largest bat in Africa, the hammerhead bat is considered to be the most sexually dimorphistic bat in the world due to these and other differences. Difficulty: Hard.

From Quiz: Some Interesting Things About Bats
 
Some incorrect choices:
Gliff's big-headed bat, Flying elephant bat, Rhinoceros bat

8. The bumblebee bat is closely related to what other species of bat?


Answer: Small mouse-tailed bat

Interesting Information:
The bumblebee bat's closest relative is the small mouse-tailed bat. Small mouse-tailed bats are slightly bigger then the bumblebee bat and are only found in middle eastern Asia. Difficulty: Hard.

From Quiz: The Bumblebee Bat
 
Some incorrect choices:
Sucker-footed bat, Bulldog bat, Malayan flying fox

9. Vampire bats are among the most social of all bat species, and colonies of vampire bats can number in the thousands. What unique behavior is common among vampire bats to help ensure the largest number of surviving colony members?


Answer: If a member of the colony has been unsuccessful hunting, another member will regurgitate blood into its mouth.

Interesting Information:
This activity closely resembles kissing, but is not involved in courtship at all. It is much more common after a female has had a baby - other females may feed the new mother for up to two weeks! Difficulty: Hard.

From Quiz: Vampire Bats 2.0
 
Some incorrect choices:
Each bat in the colony will take turns being active in the daytime. These members serve as "sentries" and sound a hypersonic alarm if the colony is threatened by a predator., Bats who have already fed in a night will distract prey for other members of the colony., Vampire bats bury their own dead; this is theorized to be an adaptation against bacterial infection.

10. There are almost 1000 species of bats. How many of them are considered vampires?


Answer: 3

Interesting Information:
The legend of vampires was known in Europe long before the explorers discovered vampire bats in Central and South America. These bats got their name from the legend. These smaller bats use their front fangs to puncture the skin of a sleeping cow or horse and then they lap up the blood (they don't suck). Difficulty: Hard.

From Quiz: Bat: Master Of The Night
 
Some incorrect choices:
12, 1, 5

11. What is the vampire bat's scientific name?


Answer: Desmodus rotundus

Interesting Information:
Macroderma gigas is the Ghost Bat, Eptesicus fuscus is the Big Brown Bat and, Pteropus giganteus is the Indian Flying Fox. Difficulty: Hard.

From Quiz: Vampire Bats
 
Some incorrect choices:
Macroderma gigas, Eptesicus fuscus, Pteropus giganteus

12. 'Twinkle, Twinkle little bat! How I wonder what you're at! Up above the world you fly. Like a tea tray in the sky...' Who wrote this ditty?


Answer: Lewis Carroll

Interesting Information:
This poem is from Lewis Carroll's 'Alice in Wonderland.' Difficulty: Hard.

From Quiz: Twinkle, Twinkle Little Bat
 
Some incorrect choices:
Edward Lear, kids' poet, Jack Prelutsky, W. Amadeus Mozart

13. When bats are using echolocation to find prey, approximately how many sounds do they produce per second?


Answer: About 158-162

Interesting Information:
As you may know, some bats use echolocation to find their prey. They send out ultrasonic sounds that bounce off the prey and back to them. This helps them to identify where the prey is. When they are out hunting, they can really get going! Difficulty: Hard.

From Quiz: Some Interesting Things About Bats
 
Some incorrect choices:
About 32-36, About 88-94, About 10-12

14. What is a bat's typical lifespan?


Answer: 20 years

Interesting Information:
This usually holds true, even in the smaller species. That's 20 long years of flapping around and eating bugs. Difficulty: Hard.

From Quiz: Creatures of the Night
 
Some incorrect choices:
12 months, 4 years, 11 years

15. While most microbats are insectivores (they eat insects), many megabats are described as frugivorous. What do they predominantly eat?


Answer: Fruit

Interesting Information:
Some megabats do eat nectar and they are described as nectarivorous. Many species are frugivorous, but despite the fact that they have particularly tough teeth which allow them to get into most fruits, they often only crush the fruit to drink the juice as opposed to eating the flesh itself.

This diet plays an important role in the distribution of plants, with frugivorous bats dispersing seeds, and nectarivorous bats pollinating plants. Difficulty: Easy.

From Quiz: A Wing and a Prayer
 
Some incorrect choices:
Flies, Other bats, Nectar

16. Most bats have to wait until they are nearly fully grown to be able to fly. Who takes care of the bat until this time?


Answer: Mother

Interesting Information:
Only the mother bat takes care of her young. Usually, a bat will give birth to only one pup at a time. After mating, the father leaves, and the mother is left to bring up the pup until it is almost an adult. The pup is not ready to fly until nearly fully grown, so it must rely on its mother until that time comes. Difficulty: Hard.

From Quiz: Learn to Fly
 
Some incorrect choices:
Father, Mother and Father, Entire Colony

17. Which country does the bumblebee bat call home?


Answer: Thailand

Interesting Information:
The bumblebee bat is highly adapted to regions with warmer climates. When bumblebee bats are introduced into colder climatic regions like Poland and the United States, they will die off easily. Bumblebee bats prefer to roost and breed in limestone caves.
Difficulty: Hard.

From Quiz: The Bumblebee Bat
 
Some incorrect choices:
Poland, Unites States of America, Uganda

18. What is the method of sensory perception by which certain animals, like bats, orient themselves to their surroundings, detect objects, communicate with other, and find food?


Answer: Echolocation

Interesting Information:
The sounds travel out away from the animal and then bounce off objects and surfaces in the animal's path creating an echo. The echo returns to the animal giving it a sense about what is is its way. Difficulty: Hard.

From Quiz: Bat: Master Of The Night

19. Which bat species has the widest wingspan?


Answer: Flying Foxes

Interesting Information:
Flying foxes of Indonesia have wingspans of over 6-feet. Difficulty: Hard.

From Quiz: Twinkle, Twinkle Little Bat
 
Some incorrect choices:
Big brown bats, Mexican free-tailed bats, vampire bats

20. In 2011, scientists studied how much bats save farmers each year by eating up pests, thus saving the farmer money on pesticides. What was the dollar value that the scientists figured that bats save American farmers each year?


Answer: $22.9 billion (USD)

Interesting Information:
Carnivorous bats eat a whole bunch of insects every day. In fact, each bat eats about its own body weight in insects every day. Many of those insects are harmful to crops, so a group of scientists at Boston University calculated how much more money American farmers would spend on pesticides if bats were not present. They estimated that bats save American farmers somewhere between $3.7 billion and $54 billion a year, most likely about $22.9 billion. Difficulty: Hard.

From Quiz: Some Interesting Things About Bats
 
Some incorrect choices:
$1.7 million (USD), $789.4 million (USD), $72.2 billion (USD)

21. Why do bats have such ugly faces?


Answer: To help them find their way

Interesting Information:
Believe it or not, this is true. The wrinkles in their faces help catch the sound the echolocation makes. Actually, the uglier they are, the better they can find their way! Difficulty: Hard.

From Quiz: Creatures of the Night
 
Some incorrect choices:
To scare away predators, They just evolved that way because bats actually find each other more attractive that way, To shame their mothers

22. A main reason a baby bat does not fly until later on in life is the fact that their patagium is not fully developed. What is the patagium?


Answer: Skin on the wing

Interesting Information:
The patagium is the sensitive membrane covering the bat's wings. It is the skin that creates the wings, and it can tear easily. A baby bat's patagium is not very well developed early in life, but as it ages, the patagium grows and strengthens. Eventually, the wings will have developed enough that the bat may actually fly. Difficulty: Hard.

From Quiz: Learn to Fly
 
Some incorrect choices:
Bones in the wing, Echolocation sensory organ, Thumbs on the tips of the wings

23. Bumblebee bats are which color?


Answer: Reddish-brown

Interesting Information:
The fur of the bumblebee bat is usually reddish-brown. The bumblebee bat has many characteristics which make them unique. Some of these are a flattened nose somewhat like that of pigs, little or no tail and the smallest wingspan of all bats.
Difficulty: Hard.

From Quiz: The Bumblebee Bat
 
Some incorrect choices:
Yellowish-black, Black and white, Pink

24. Bats are voracious insect eaters. How many big brown bats can help farmers by chowing down over 18-million rootworms in just one summer?


Answer: a colony of 150

Interesting Information:
Bats are popular with farmers because they eat literally tons of crop damaging insect pests. Difficulty: Hard.

From Quiz: Twinkle, Twinkle Little Bat
 
Some incorrect choices:
a dozen winged avengers, 500 ravenous bats, bats don't eat rootworms

25. Some bats seek out plant nectar for food, which helps to pollinate plants. What type of alcoholic beverage is helped along by these nectar-eating bats?


Answer: Tequila

Interesting Information:
Bats that eat nectar help to pollinate plants just like bees. They travel from flower to flower drinking the nectar and transfer the pollen around. This helps fruit to form on the plant. Bats pollinate the agave cactus which is used to produce tequila. Besides the agave, nectar-eating bats also help wild fruit such as bananas, breadfruit, avocados, dates, figs, peaches, mangoes and many others to produce fruit and seeds. Difficulty: Hard.

From Quiz: Some Interesting Things About Bats
 
Some incorrect choices:
Vodka, Rum, Red wine

26. About how many echolocation squeaks do bats produce per second?


Answer: 200

Interesting Information:
The echos from these squeaks tells the bat the size and shapes of their surroundings, and if things are moving or not. Difficulty: Hard.

From Quiz: Creatures of the Night
 
Some incorrect choices:
500, 2, 4

27. The gestation period of a bat is anywhere from forty days to six months, depending on the size of the bat. In what time period do most bats, such as the fruit bat, usually give birth?


Answer: Early summer

Interesting Information:
Mating is very unusual between bats. Sometimes a male bat will mate with up to 30 females while they are hibernating in the winter months. The female bat, then, holds the sperm until a better time, usually around June, and then fertilizes the egg. The baby will then develop, and the mother will give birth at the best time possible; usually around May or June, when the fruit, insects, pollen, etc, is the most abundant. Difficulty: Hard.

From Quiz: Learn to Fly
 
Some incorrect choices:
Mid September, Dead of Winter, February

28. What is the IUCN conservation status of the bumblebee bat?


Answer: Endangered

Interesting Information:
The bumblebee bat is an endangered species making it one of the rarest species of bat living today. Factors contributing to the decrease in population are disturbance, logging, forest fires and tourism. This bat is frequently captured for display and ends up being sold for money and souvenirs because they are so rare and people seldom get a glimpse of this small delicate creature.

Difficulty: Hard.

From Quiz: The Bumblebee Bat
 
Some incorrect choices:
Threatened, Vulnerable, Least concern

29. Besides their unique mode of nourishment, what is another way that vampire bats differ from insect-eating bats in their hunting methods?


Answer: They navigate only by low-energy sound pulses, as opposed to the high-energy sonar of insect-eating bats.

Interesting Information:
Common vampire bats also have highly specialized heat-sensing organs on their noses that allow them to "see" the infrared spectrum in their nocturnal sojourns. This is great for finding blood vessels! Difficulty: Hard.

From Quiz: Vampire Bats 2.0
 
Some incorrect choices:
They navigate by high-energy sonar, as opposed to the lower-energy sound pulses of insect-eating bats., Unlike any other species of bat, the vampire bat is perfectly content hunting in broad daylight., They typically swarm their prey, as opposed to solo-hunting insect-eating bats.

30. What do many bats not do in winters?


Answer: Eat different foods.

Interesting Information:
The insect population decreases in the winter time. Because of this many bats must move south or slow down their bodies and sleep for several months. They must store up on fat supplies to make it through the winter as they drop their body temperature and slow down their heart and metabolism. Difficulty: Hard.

From Quiz: Bat: Master Of The Night
 
Some incorrect choices:
Migrate., Hibernate., Store up on fat supplies.

31. How many offspring does a vampire bat usually have at once?


Answer: 1

Interesting Information:
The female only has one pup at a time. The female builds a strong bond with her offspring. Difficulty: Hard.

From Quiz: Vampire Bats
 
Some incorrect choices:
2-4, 3, 3-5

32. What is the largest living bat?


Answer: Flying fox

Interesting Information:
This bat can grow up to 40cm long, has a wingspan of up to 2 metres, and weighs a whopping 1.6kg! Difficulty: Hard.

From Quiz: Creatures of the Night
 
Some incorrect choices:
Kitti's hog-nosed, Mouse-eared, Richard's pig-faced

33. It is widely accepted that bats are much more maneuverable than their feathered counterparts. This is because the wings of a bat are generally much ____ than those of a bird? Much what?


Answer: Thinner

Interesting Information:
Although the fact that their wings are much thinner gives them greater maneuverability than birds, it also makes them more vulnerable. The wings of a bat are quite fragile, and have been known to tear easily. However, the membrane in the wing of a bat can regrow, repairing small rips.

This maneuverability does not save bats from being the prey of several birds, aptly named bat hawks and bat falcons. Difficulty: Average.

From Quiz: A Wing and a Prayer
 
Some incorrect choices:
Thicker, Bigger, Hairier

34. Most of the bat species are insectivores. How many bugs per hour can these bats eat?


Answer: 600

Interesting Information:
They eat one bug every 6 seconds. Difficulty: Hard.

From Quiz: Bat: Master Of The Night
 
Some incorrect choices:
1200, 12000, 120

35. As they hang upside down in their caves, black wings folded around their bodies like theater capes, bats look pretty ferocious. Choose the true statement from among these batty myths.


Answer: Batman's sidekick was Robin

Interesting Information:
Bats only bite in self-defense. Vampire bats are excellent mothers, even adopting bat orphans. Bats see well in the dark. Difficulty: Hard.

From Quiz: Twinkle, Twinkle Little Bat
 
Some incorrect choices:
Vampire bats desert their babies., Bats often bite., Bats are as blind as, well, a bat

36. What is the name of the protein in vampire bats' saliva that prevents the blood of the bitten victim from clotting while the bat is drinking?


Answer: Draculin

Interesting Information:
Draculin is, of course, named after Bram Stoker's Count Dracula. The protein works in vampire bats' saliva by increasing an easy flow of the blood by decreasing the ability of the blood to clot. The protein is often given to stroke patients. It is thought that when they receive it, the clots in blood vessels in their brains will decrease, thus allowing blood to flow more freely. Difficulty: Hard.

From Quiz: Some Interesting Things About Bats
 
Some incorrect choices:
Vampire protein, Bram-Stokilin, Vladilin

37. How do bats conserve their resources when they're not active?


Answer: They let their temperature drop.

Interesting Information:
This sends them into a hibenation-like state, but they aren't actually hibernating. Difficulty: Hard.

From Quiz: Creatures of the Night
 
Some incorrect choices:
They huddle together., They bring the remaining resources to a hiding spot., They eat it all.

38. The smallest known bat is Kitti's hog-nosed bat, which lives in Thailand and Burma. It has a body size of around an inch (2.5cm) and weighs just 2 grams! These diminuitive characteristics have given Kitti's hog-nosed bat which nickname?


Answer: Bumblebee bat

Interesting Information:
Kitti's hog-nosed bat is actually one of the two contenders for the title of world's smallest mammal. With an average body weight of just 2g it is second to the Etruscan shrew (1.8g), but has a smaller skull size than the shrew so there has been no definitive winner declared.

Unfortunately the population of Kitti's hog-nosed bat has seen a decline since their discovery in 1974, and it is classified by the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) as a vulnerable species. Difficulty: Hard.

From Quiz: A Wing and a Prayer
 
Some incorrect choices:
Butterfly bat, Moth bat, Dragonfly bat

39. A microbat, like the hollow-nosed bat, for instance, will give birth to a pup that is about 25% of her body size. Why are the babies so large?


Answer: Pups will be weaned faster

Interesting Information:
Megabats generally have pups 12% of their body size, and microbats give birth to pups about a quarter (25%) of their body size. That would be like an average woman giving birth to a 35 pound child! The reason for giving birth to such large pups serves a great purpose; weaning times are far less. A bat needs to grow up and eat solid food quickly, and as soon as the bat can fly, it is time to move on to solids. The bigger the pup starts out, the less time it will take for it to actually be able to fly. Difficulty: Hard.

From Quiz: Learn to Fly
 
Some incorrect choices:
Pups will be able to hold onto the cave ceiling easier, Pups will be teens and they won't have to worry about "diaper days", Pups will already be able to fly

40. What is the scientific name for bats?


Answer: Chiroptera.

From Quiz: Bat: Master Of The Night
 
Some incorrect choices:
Colioptera., Pteropontica., Nychterida.
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