A mother gives birth while hanging by her feet; she must catch her baby with her wings as it drops! Most female bats have only one baby, called a pup, per year, although twins and quadruplets occur in a few species. Some tropical bats can have two pregnancies per year. In some species, the pregnant females form nursery colonies in warmer roosts. A mother bat can locate her pup by its scent and sound out of millions in a roost!
The pup is born without hair and with its eyes closed. The mother nurses her pup for two to six months, then teaches it to fly and find food. The pup can cling to its mother with its sharp claws while she roosts or hang by itself. When the mother takes wing, the pup holds tight with its teeth, too. In bat species that live in smaller groups, the father may help care for the pup. A bat pup learns to fly within three to six weeks of its birth, depending on the species.
Excerpt taken from article first published on https://animals.sandiegozoo.org/animals/bat
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