This free-to-download PowerPoint and presenter's guide can be used by school and community groups who are looking for an affordable short program about bats, when a live presenter such as a bat rehabilitator or biologist is not available. The material is appropriate for grade 3 and higher. Upon completion of your shopping cart transaction, you will receive an email link to download the PowerPoint and presenter's guide files. The link is valid for 30 days; downloaded files do not expire.
**This presenter’s guide and the companion PowerPoint presentation are appropriate for use by
teachers and civic groups, as well as bat rehabilitators, who wish to give educational presentations about bats to a mixed audience. The content is appropriate for children in grade 3 and up.**
Bats, the only members of the mammalian order Chiroptera, comprise approximately 22.5% of all
mammal species on earth – there are an estimated 1,450 species of bats in existence today (2020),
and 6,450 mammal species in total. That 6,450 is every mammal species from aardvarks to zebras,
including humans! New species of bats are identified quite often – advances in DNA technology,
combined with mapping of the complete bat genome, have resulted in a number of
previously-identified species being split based on genetic variances.
Within the order Chiroptera, there exist two subgroups – megabats and microbats. The megabats are
the flying foxes, and as the name suggests, these are the large fruit bats that live in Old World
habitats of the southern/eastern hemisphere – Africa, Australia, the Middle East, southeast Asia,
and island chains such as Indonesia and the Asian/South Pacific Islands. Conversely, the microbats
are tiny, generally consume insects, and occupy habitats on all of the continents and many of the
major island
chains.
