For Halloween, we pull out decorations involving spooky animals, including bats. These creatures really are kind of creepy: they look like mice with wings. But bats are our friends, as they are flying bug traps. A bat can eat 1/3 of its body weight in bugs in just a few hours, and when you think about how little a bug weighs, that’s an awful lots of insects. We’ll take bats over bugs any day — not just on Halloween.
Wee ones: Bats have the same number of wings as a bird. How many wings is that?
Little kids: If you’re dressed up as a bat for Halloween and then 3 bats fly overhead, how many wings do you guys have altogether? Bonus: If a bat weighs 3 pounds and can eat 1/3 its weight in bugs in a few hours, how many pounds of bugs is that?
Big kids: How much longer is the longest bat (22 inches) than the shortest bat (1 1/2 inches)? Bonus: If a bat flies 22 feet to catch a bug, then zigzags 19 feet to catch a second bug and 18 feet to catch a third, how many feet did it fly for that meal?
Answers:
Wee ones: 2 wings.
Little kids: 8 wings. Bonus: 1 pound of bugs – yuck!!
Big kids: 20 1/2 inches. Bonus: 59 feet.
