Unit 07 - Going a Little Batty

Why investigate bats?

Bats (Order Chiroptera) are one of two groups of placental mammals endemic to Australia. The other group is native mice and rats (Order Rodentia).

Bats originated in Asian rainforests and reached Australia about 26 million years ago when there were land connections between North Queensland and Papua New Guinea. There are 36 species of bats in the Wet Tropics, representing 60% of all bat species in Australia.

There are two groups of bats in Australian rainforests. The first group is called Megachiroptera (Megabats) which consist of fruit bats, flying foxes and blossom bats. The second group is called Microchiroptera (Microbats) which are smaller insect eating and carnivorous bats.

Bats have evolved with tropical rainforests and are very important to rainforests now. Megabats pollinate rainforest trees and disperse the seeds of many rainforest plants. If there were no bats, our World Heritage rainforest would be very different. This is why it is important to learn about bats and appreciate their place in the world.

The learning activities in this unit introduce younger children to the lives of the Megabats and Microbats who inhabit north Queensland forests.