Bats are the only mammal that can do what?

Bats are the only mammals that can fly using true, sustained powered flight. Their wings are formed from skin stretched across greatly elongated finger bones, the forelimbs, sides, and hind legs. Powerful chest and back muscles drive repeated wingbeats, allowing bats to remain airborne rather than merely gliding.

This distinction matters because several other mammals can glide. Flying squirrels, sugar gliders, and colugos use skin membranes to coast between trees, but they cannot generate sustained powered flight. Bats belong to the mammalian order Chiroptera, a name meaning “hand-wing.”

Flight enabled bats to exploit nighttime insects, fruit, nectar, and other food sources while escaping many ground predators. It also shaped their anatomy and metabolism: bats have flexible wing membranes, lightweight limb bones, high metabolic rates, and powerful respiratory systems. A related misconception is that every bat uses echolocation; many insect-eating bats do, but some fruit bats rely primarily on vision and smell.