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Distribution: world wide except Arctic, Antarctic and highest mountains.
Size: weight and wingspan range from 1.5g and 15 cm in Kitti's hog-nosed bat to 1.5kg and 2m in Flying fox (Pteropus species).
Coat: variable, but mostly browns, grays, yellows, reds and blacks.
Gestation: variable, and with delayed implantation can range from 3 to 10 months in a single species.
Longevity: maximum 30 years but average 4-5 years.

Nearly 1/4 of mammalian species are bats. Apart from birds are the only vertebrates capable of sustained flight.

They have exploited all major land habitats with the exception of the polar regions, highest mountains and some remote islands, particularly in the eastern pacific. On New Zealand, Hawaii, the Azores and many oceanic islands, bats are the only indigenous mammals.

In Europe, the Leisler's bat long ago reached the Azores in the North Atlantic, and the Hoary bat from the Americas similarly colonized the Hawaiian Islands with minimum distances from the mainland of 1500 and 3700 km (930 and 2300 mi) respectively.

 

Bats have wings that flap, a character which separates them from all other mammals. Even so-called flying mammals such as flying squirrels and colugos which possess expanded flaps of skin are not able to undertake powered flight - they just glide. the wing is a patagium which membrane consists of skin, sandwiching bundles of elastic tissue and muscle fiber, and is supported by the finger bones, arms, legs and in some species the tail. The pelvis is weak but adapted to enable the legs to rotate to the rear so that the bat can hang head-down. The orbit is rarely closed behind. The incisors (In Mammalia Incisors - one of the chisel-shaped teeth at the front of the mouth) are often specialized or reduced.

There are two suborders: Megachiroptera and Microchiroptera.

 

Most bats are only active at night, but island species in the absence of birds of prey are often also active by day, and a few bats of most species will occasionally fly during daytime.
    Flying especially at night, poses problems of obstacle avoidance and navigation, but facilitates finding food which may be patchily distributed in space and time. Although some bats, such as Old World Flying foxes, have excellent sight, most rely upon highly acute hearing which, with often complex sound production, enables bats to navigate, feed and locate roosts by echolocation.
    Many bats, particularly the fruit eating species, have a keen sense of smell.