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It was spring time within the deep forests of Northern 

Michigan. The snow had melted and a colony of little brown 

bats made their home in a hollowed out tree. 

Bats are mammals, which mean that the mother bats will give

birth to their young (known as pups), and will feed them milk. 

For the first month, mother bats need to catch food and care for 

the pups. 

As the spring became summer, a baby bat was born.

  He had a tiny, furry body with large wings. 

His mother named him Glider.  

Glider would spend his days upside down, holding onto his 

mother, who hung upside down by her feet. 

A bat's legs are made up of light weight bones. This bone 

structure is good for flying and hanging upside down but it is 

not good for walking. Glider's wings are bigger than his whole 

body. They are made up of arms and long finger bones 

covered with a stretchy skin. His thumb is a claw that is used 

to cling to his mother or to the inside of the tree. 

During the summer, Glider continued to grow. Soon he became 

too big for his mother to carry. 

“It is now time for you to learn how to fly and catch insects” said 

his mother. 

“Really Mama? I can fly high in the sky just like you?” he asked 

excitedly. 

The mother bat smiled at her son’s enthusiasm. 

“Yes, you are officially big enough. Now begin by flapping your 

wings.” 

Glider began to flap his wings until he got a rhythm going. 

“Okay honey now go” said the mother bat as she quickly 

bolted out of the tree. 

Glider quickly flew behind her, trying his hardest to keep up. 

Within minutes the two of them were flying high in the sky. The 

cool chill of the night air brushed against Glider’s fur and his eyes 

twinkled in excitement. 

“I can see the whole forest from here!” Glider exclaimed. His 

mother giggled, amused with his excitement. 

This feeling of wonder didn’t last long as the mother bat 

suddenly sensed that they were in danger. Suddenly a large 

shadow of a figure lurked in the moonlit sky. 

  The mother bat looked up and realized that there was an owl   

  was staring at them; waiting for the perfect time to strike. 

The owl quickly began chasing them as Glider looked 

up in 

horror. Glider and his mother dove sharply into the 

forest and

began maneuvering their way around the trees. The 

owl was 

quickly gaining speed on them when they made a 

sharp turn 

and hid inside of a hollowed out tree. 

The owl eventually gave up and flew away. 

They exited the tree and searched the sky for the owl. 

“Mama” exclaimed Glider, “where are we?” 

“I’m not sure Glider” she said. 

“How are we going to find the others?” Glider asked. 

"You must use your ears," Mother bat replied. 

"My ears?" asked Glider, "How can I see with my ears?" 

"We can use our eyes to see at night ," explained the mother bat, 

"but the darkness makes it difficult.   Instead, we use another 

sense." 

"When you make a sound you need to listen carefully for 

its echo. The sound will bounce off things in the forest like trees 

and insects." 

"Using your big ears," she told Glider, "Listen for 

the sound to return. Depending on how long the sound takes to 

return and from which direction the sound returns, you can 

locate objects like food, trees, and you can even use it to find 

home. This is called echolocation.” 

 Glider tried calling out a loud chirp. "We bats have

 remarkable senses," Mother Bat continued. "As you get more

 practice, your chirps will contain different pitches of sound.” 

Glider listened to his mother talk and felt pride in being a bat.

Using their echolocation, Glider and his mother eventually

found their way back home. All the baby bats and their mothers

spent about an hour eating almost their own weight in insects 

before going to sleep. 

Throughout that summer and fall Glider practiced his skills---- 

he was soon eating thousands of tiny insects nightly and 

continued to grow strong.

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