Absurd Creatures | Bats Are Totally Awesome. Trust Me, I'm a Vampire

(funky music)

[Matt Simon] How cool are bats?

They're the only mammals that can fly,

they see with sound,

and they're a great excuse for the crew, to dress me up

like an idiot.

I hope you guys are having fun.

[Offscreen Voice] Looking good, Matt!

[Offscreen Voice] Work it, Matt!

[Matt Simon] Anyway, bats.

When you're looking at a batwing,

you're actually looking at a highly modified hand.

Surface area is a membrane supported by long thin fingers.

By taking to the air,

and exploiting niches other mammals can't,

bats have become hugely successful,

tallying over 1,000 species across the globe.

In fact, they make a big quarter of all mammal species.

Bats of course use echolocation to pinpoint

and catch insects mid-flight.

That requires some seriously frenetic maneuverability

like a fighter pilot on amphetamines,

but it was only recently that scientists discovered

how exactly bats are pulling this off.

It turns out that a bat's wings are covered

in microscopic sensory hairs

that detect changes in air currents.

So in addition to using echolocation

to make sense of their world,

bats actually feel their way through the air.

But not all bats are after insects.

The biggest among them eat fruit.

These are the accurately named fruit bats,

the biggest of which sport a wingspan of almost six feet.

Because fruit never evolved wings to fly around

and evade predators,

fruit bats have no need for echolocation.

They just use their sense of sight and smell.

The weirdest among the fruit bats

has to be the hammer-headed bat.

Only the males have the bizarrely shaped noggin,

which amplifies vocalizations to attract females.

And then

(mumbling).

And then, there are the vampire bats.

Typically, these are going after things

like pigs and cattle,

but have been known to bite sleeping human beings.

But unlike vampires like me,

they don't actually suck the blood.

They just give their victim a nibble,

and lap at the wound.

Which makes me wonder why I had to wear this stupid thing

at all.

Guys?

[Offscreen Voice] We had the idea

before you wrote the script, Matt.