As we all know, appearances can be deceiving. The real trouble is that it's so difficult to know when we're being deceived and when we're not. This is especially problematic with animals, because their common names often are far off the mark. Many people, for example, think that bats are flying rodents. Indeed, the German name, fledermaus, translates as flutter or flitter mouse, and the Spanish ratón volador as flying mouse. Yet bats have a long evolutionary history entirely separate from that of rodents. Our first fossils of bats go back to early Eocene times, over 50 million years ago. And was a perfectly good bat even at that time.
Bats do have something in common with rodents, though—both groups are
highly successful. In fact, there are more kinds of bats than any other type of mammal
except rodents. So, next time you see bats flittering around at dusk as they feed on
insects, remember that you're not seeing THE bat,, but one of the dozen or more
species that grace almost every part of the Chihuahuan Desert.
Contributor: Arthur H. Harris, Laboratory for Environmental Biology, Centennial Museum, University of Texas at El Paso.
Desert Diary is a joint production of the Centennial Museum and KTEP National Public Radio at the University of Texas at El Paso.