Melvin Berger and his wife, Gilda Berger, have collaborated to create a truly wondrous work. If you and/or your children don't know very much about bats, you're in for a surprise. The book is chockfull of information that is truly amazing. My only contact with bats lies in finding a newborn baby bat in my backyard one day. It was very frightened, but very sweet. It's face reminded me of the face of a baby rat that once was my pet. Only the tiny wings informed me that the pup was indeed a bat. I rushed it to the local animal preserve facility for medical care, and I have always hoped that the pup survived to adulthood. If it did, it would now have enormous wings, as shown in the vivid photographs in this book. That is because a bat has extremely long fingers. Hands and arms are covered with a thin skin, and the bones and this skin form the bat's wings. There are around 1,000 different types of bats. They are nocturnal and they hunt for food at night, mostly flying through the air catching insects. The Gray Bat can catch 3,000 insects a night. Some eat fruit or flowers, some even catch fish, and a few drink blood, mainly the blood of cattle. They do not harm them, the cattle do not even know the bat has visited during the night. The last chapter is called "Bats in Danger," and they really do have a bad rap. They are very clean, and don't carry many diseases as is believed. Bats are in danger because man is destroying them. However, the fewer the bats, the more undesirable insects there are. The fewer the bats the fewer new plants there are, as they spread seeds and pollen around. The book itself is dedicated to Bat Conservation International that works to save the bats. Mr. Berger is a member of the New York Academy of Science and his wife, Gilda, is a seasoned children's writer. They have created an admirable book here. Now I wish they would write a book about lizards. I'm waiting for it!
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