Carnivorous bats, which prey on other small mammals, birds, lizards, and frogs. They have a widely varied diet, however, and do not eat only animals. They are of moderate size. Fish-eating bats, which catch fish at or near the water's surface. These bats obtain the fish by use of the feet, which are large, powerful, and equipped with hooked claws.
Most bats have only one young per year.
This low reproductive rate is offset by the fact that bats live longer then most mammals of their size. Ernest P. Walker had a pet Eptesicus that attained an age of at least 13 years. The Zoological Society of London had a fruit bat for 17 years, and there are records of bats marked in the wild that lived at least 30 years. The sperm is retained in the reproductive tract of the female during the winter. In the nonhibernating forms, ovulation and breeding occur in the spring or at favorable seasons.