Most of us have heard how a bat can fly in total darkness and never hit an object that might be in its way. The Creator has given the bat excellent sight and hearing, but that is not the secret of its safety. Since it hunts at night, He has given it a radar system called echolocation, which is far more sensitive than any that man has invented. A bat produces a sound with its mouth or nose that is so high-pitched that humans cannot hear it. These sound waves strike objects in their path and send back echoes to the bat’s ears. The echoes give the bat a very accurate picture of its surroundings, including tiny insects which it catches and eats in great quantities. It can sense wires as fine as a human hair. Even though we can’t hear these sounds, they are so loud to the bat that it has to turn off its hearing while making them, switching it back on again to catch the returning echo.
God has given bats a sense of approaching winter with its scarcity of food. Some migrate to warmer climates. The largest mammal migration on earth is thought to be the straw-colored fruit bat migration to Kasanka National Park in Zambia. Up to 10 million bats migrate there to feed on the fruits, berries and flowers which are abundant in that area. The bats are important in helping to spread seeds of the different fruit trees and other things they feed on. Instead of migrating, other bats put on a layer of fat before winter, then find a dark place like a cave, where they hang by their hind feet and hibernate for up to six months. During this time, the fat stored in their bodies keeps them alive until warm weather returns.
Bats are helpful to us in destroying huge quantities of harmful insects. It is estimated that they eat half their weight in insects in one night. They also help us by pollinating many kinds of food, including bananas, and by spreading seeds of other fruits, like chocolate.
Bats are not birds, but mammals. They have fur, not feathers. Their wings are actually like skin that stretches between four very long fingers and goes all the way down the sides of their bodies to their feet. They also have thumbs on their hands, which can act independently of their other fingers and stick up out of the “wing.” These help the bat do things like climbing a rock wall.
We have seen how the Creator, the Lord God, made a way for bats to see in the dark. Our opening verse talks about the Bible, which God gave to us and which is a light for us as we go through life. Echolocation helps the bat to both avoid danger and find food. Can you think of how the Bible does both of those things for us?
Did You Know?
Bats are helpful to us in destroying huge quantities of harmful insects.
Messages of God’s Love 7/27/2025