Evolutionary Biology | Bats: When a Mammal Learned to Fly

Bats learned to fly around 65 million years ago. Photo: pixabay For centuries, prejudices, myths, fears and superstitions about bats as embodiments of demons, witches and death have persisted. Numerous horror films also use the cliché of the bat as a blood-sucking vampire. Only three Central and South American species feed on the blood of other animals. The other 1,400 species of bat feast on insects, fruits or nectar.

Since Bram Stoker's "Dracula", the origin of bat vampires in popular belief has been located in Transylvania. Of course this is just a legend. However, there is something to it in that Transylvania is located in Europe, where, according to a study by the international bat research consortium Bat1K published in the scientific journal "Nature" in September 2026, the ancestors of bats appeared on the evolutionary stage millions of years ago.

“Bats have dominated the night sky for around 65 million years, but the question of where they first took to the skies was difficult to answer,” says Professor Suzanne Hand, paleontologist from the University of Sydney and one of the 137 experts from 64 countries at Bat1K. »Advances in genome sequencing and computer technology now enable us to compare and combine data from the DNA of living bats with fossil evidence in ways that were not possible before. “This has given us a much clearer picture of the early bat family tree – and suggests that bats originated in Europe.”

From Europe they then spread across Africa to Asia, Australia and the Americas. One of the oldest bat fossils is 55 million years old and was found in Queensland, Australia. “This find underlines the rapid spread of early bats to all corners of the earth as soon as they developed the ability to fly,” says Hand.

Only three species of bats feed on the blood of other animals.

The interdisciplinary Bat1K consortium was not only able to determine Europe as the place of origin of bats, but also show that the bats' echolocation for "seeing" in the dark, as well as the ability to fly, had already developed in the early phase of their evolutionary development.

Bats are extraordinary animals. They are the only mammals that can fly. Their wings are modified hands with extremely elongated fingers that are connected to each other by a thin flight membrane. Many species live in large colonies. They recognize members of their own species, communicate with sounds, maintain social relationships and mothers find their young even in huge colonies. Some bats can use their ultrasound echolocation to detect tiny insects. During hibernation, they lower their body temperature, heart rate and breathing rate so drastically that they can survive months without food.

Fruit bats with a wingspan of up to 1.7 meters are among the largest bats in the world. The bumblebee bat, which lives in Thailand and Myanmar, weighs only around two grams and has a wingspan of 13 to 15 centimeters. The pipistrelle bat, one of the most common bat species in Europe, is only slightly larger than the bumblebee bat. In our cities, it often hunts along street lights where insects gather.

Bats are extremely interesting for science. Their properties of flight, ultrasound orientation, longevity and unusual immune defense against all kinds of viruses make them an extraordinary research object. In addition, the bat in Europe is gradually experiencing a change in image as a relevant species for biodiversity and functioning ecosystems.

The reputation of the bat varies greatly across cultures around the world. Among the Maya of Central America, the bat deity Camazotz was the feared gatekeeper of darkness and death. In China, however, bats are considered symbols of luck and wealth.

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