ResearchMeet the Bats!
Bats have taken a place, along with spiders and black cats, as being an animal commonly associated with Halloween. That's about par for the course, considering that this group of animals doesn't seem too concerned with press relations. For being such a plentiful order on the planet, they sure go to great lengths to hide themselves.
Did I mention they're a plentiful order? Yes, at 1,100 known species worldwide, 20% of all warm-blooded creatures on this planet are bats. It's amazing that you don't see more of them up close. But explore the world of bats, and you will discover a whole hidden culture. There are bat conservation groups, bat sanctuaries, and licensed bat handlers all over the world. Bats are touted as the sole reason that flying insects don't simply crowd the rest of us off the globe. If you've seen a structure in a rural area resembling a dog house but stuck up on a pole ten feet in the air, that's a bat house. Bat houses are the effective way to convince bats to move out of a human structure, by giving them their own place a few feet away.
Most people only see a bat up close when it's either been grounded or has flown into a house. Bats get grounded for any number of reasons: becoming tired or disoriented, blown down by a storm, collapsing from heat exhaustion, or in a panic after being scared from it's roost or being attacked. Bats flying into a house are simply lost, and are even more scared of the people than the people are of it.
Bat myths alone could fill a book, doubtless the cause of their inclusion in Halloween scenes along with their generally creepy appearance. Blind? Nope. Rabid? You're more likely to get rabies from your own house cat than a bat. Drink blood? Only three species are known to do so, and these never attack humans. Diseased? Actually, they groom themselves like cats do and are notably resistant to diseases. Flying rodents? No, they aren't rodents, although what, exactly, they are is still up for debate.
In the first place, bats are indeed considered mammals, and are the only flying members of this set. Beyond that, bats get their own class of chiroptera. Scientists are still confused as to what else to say about their class; bats have traits in common with both marsupials and primates, and have an intelligence and social structure approaching dolphins. It doesn't help matters much that delicate bat skeletons don't fossilize well, and so it's hard to peg exactly when and from where they evolved. The fossil record pans out going back a mere 50 million years.
Because they will bite if provoked and because a bat who did happen to have rabies would be more likely to be on the ground where people encounter it, it is still advised that if you find a bat on the ground or indoors you should keep clear of it and call an animal control authority to handle it. However, in a pinch you can find a long stick and possibly get it to grip it, where it will then cling to the stick while you carry stick and bat outside or to safety. Remember that bats are a Federally protected endangered species, so you should not harm or disturb them if that can be avoided. A bat colony settling in your attic is a different story; you'll need a bat expert to reclaim your building!
Of course, none of the myths we've exploded here will stop bat motifs from being a popular Halloween decoration. But at least now you have some bat facts to take with you to the Halloween parties. If you meet anybody dressed as a vampire, you'll at least have some conversation material!