Level: J
All
DRA: 18
Genre:
Informational
Strategy:
Abou t
Monitor/Clarify
Skill:
Compare and Contrast
Word Count: 296
Bat s
1.3.15
HOUGHTON MIFFLIN
Online Books
by Mary Dell Hartman
ISBN-13:978-0-547-02827-9
ISBN-10:0-547-02827-X
1032893
H O UG H T O N M IF F L IN
All About
Bats
by Mary Dell Hartman
PHOTOGRAPHY CREDITS: Cover © Dr. Merlin D. Tuttle/Photo Researchers, Inc.; 1 © Peter Arnold, Inc./Alamy;
2 © Timothy G. Laman/National Geographic/Getty Images; 3 © Barry Bland/Alamy; 4 (t) © Wolfgang Kaehler/Corbis,
(b) © Blickwinkel/Alamy; 5 © Holger Hollemann/dpa/Corbis; 6 © Peter Arnold, Inc./Alamy; 7 © Nick Greaves/Alamy;
8 © Dr. Merlin D. Tuttle/Bat Cons. Int’l/Photo Researchers, Inc.; 9 © Dr. Merlin D. Tuttle/Photo Researchers, Inc.;
10 © Arco Images/Alamy
Copyright © by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical,
including photocopying or recording, or by any information storage or retrieval system without the prior written
permission of Houghton Mifflin Company unless such copying is expressly permitted by federal copyright law.
Address inquiries to School Permissions, Houghton Mifflin Company, 222 Berkeley Street, Boston, MA 02116.
Printed in China
ISBN-13: 978-0-547-02827-9
ISBN-10: 0-547-02827-X
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 SDP 15 14 13 12 11 10 09 08
Have you ever seen an animal
fly at night? It might have been
a bat! Bats and birds are the
only animals that can fly, but
they are not the same. Bats do
not have feathers or lay eggs like
birds do.
2
thumb
fingers
wing
All bats have wings for flying.
Bats have thin skin on their
wings and very long fingers.
They also have thumbs. Many
bats can use their thumbs to
walk or climb.
3
Bats come in many colors.
Some bats have brown fur.
Others have black or gray fur.
Bats come in many sizes.
Some bats can be very large.
Others are smaller than a penny!
4
Most bats have big ears that
help them hear very well. Bats
can hear sounds that people
cannot. This helps them to fly
in the dark.
5
Bats live all over the world.
They make their homes in warm,
dark spots. Their homes are
called roosts. The bats sleep in
the roost all day. They come
out at night to fly and eat.
6
Many bats make their roosts
in caves. Other bats make
roosts in rock piles or inside
trees. Some bats even live inside
the walls of a house. Bats do
not like to live alone, so many
bats may live in the same place.
7
Most bats eat insects. The
bats come out at night to hunt.
Some bats can catch 600 insects
in one hour! Bats help people
by eating insects that bite.
8
Some bats eat fruit. They carry
the seeds away when they fly.
Then they drop the seeds in other
places. New plants grow in places
where the bats drop the seeds.
9
The next time you see
something fly in the night sky,
look closely. It might be a
bird… or it just might be a bat!
10
Responding
Compare and
TARGET SKILL
Contrast How are bats like birds?
How are they different? Make a
diagram.
Talk About It
Text to Text Think of a different
story about animals. How are
these animals like bats? How
are they different?
11
WORDS TO KNOW
bird long
hear or
fly warm
TARGET SKILLCompare and
Contrast Tell how two things are
alike or not.
TARGET STRATEGY Monitor/Clarify
Find ways to figure out what
doesn’t make sense.
GENRE Informational Text gives
facts about a topic.
12
Level: J
All
DRA: 18
Genre:
Informational
Strategy:
Abou t
Monitor/Clarify
Skill:
Compare and Contrast
Word Count: 296
Bat s
1.3.15
HOUGHTON MIFFLIN
Online Books
by Mary Dell Hartman
ISBN-13:978-0-547-02827-9
ISBN-10:0-547-02827-X
1032893
H O UG H T O N M IF F L IN
