The Evolution Of Bats

By Frank Stasio

Published November 13, 2015 at 12:05 PM EST

1 of 2

Gregg Gunnell studies bat fossils, a relatively small field given the small amount of bat fossils that exist. Experts still don't know the evolutionary origin of bats.

Grand Canyon National Park / Flickr Creative Commons

2 of 2

Bats make up roughly 20 percent of all mammals in the world.

Lori Branham / Flickr Creative Commons

Scientists have found bat fossils dating back 55 million years ago, but they still do not know the genesis of their evolution. As time passed since those early bats, the animals found little competition during the night and proliferated.

Bats currently comprise 20 percent of all mammals. There are many types of bats, from the insect-eating to the fruit-eating to the blood-sucking vampire bats. These creatures are also the only mammals with powered flight or a sophisticated echolocation system.

Host Frank Stasio talks with Gregg Gunnell, director of the Division of Fossil Primates at the Duke Lemur Center.

Gunnell will give a talk titled “Fossils of the Night – Bats through Time” as part of the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences’s PaleoPalooza tomorrow in Raleigh at 12:30 p.m.