Bat

Bats are nocturnal flying mammals in the order Chiroptera. They are divided into two suborders: megabats and microbats. Microbats use echolocation to navigate. Despite the assumption that bats are blind, both bats can see, albeit rather poorly. Their other senses are excellent.
One famous anthropomorphic bat is Batty Koda, a rainforest-dwelling bat from the 1992 movie FernGully: The Last Rainforest. Others include Bartok of Anastasia, an albino bat from Russia, and Stellaluna, a fruit bat from the book and film by the same name.
Author Kenneth Oppel also created a best selling series of novels entitled Silverwing as a challenge to himself in writing about a less-understood nocturnal creature. The series (now a popular television series) features various species of American bats as the central figures, similar to the rabbits in the classic novel Watership Down.
The bat is associated with characters of the night; both villains like Dracula and heroes like Batman.