BATS

There are nearly 1000 species of bats worldwide, with unique adaptations, unusual diets, and enormous variations in behavior. Bat lovers will enjoy the dramatic full color photos from around the world by ``Batman'' Dr. Merlin Tuttle in this title from the Nature Watch series. The photos would have been more useful, however, if the captions had indicated geographic location and scale. For example, we are told the megabat pictured has a wing span of six feet and weighs 3-4 pounds, while the microbat photographed is smaller than a jellybean and weighs less than a penny; yet the bats appear the same size in the photos. Stuart attempts a world overview of bats in 48 pages, describing adaptations of the senses, bat food, migration, hibernation, birth and raising of young, and their threatened status. He would have done better to concentrate on fewer species in greater detail. Elsewhere the language is imprecise and the glossary is unhelpful, ``...the female bat stores the fertile male sperm in her uterus.'' The glossary defines ``uterus'' as ``a hollow organ in a female mammal's body.'' Still, the photos are appealing and the odd facts intriguing. Glossary and index. (Nonfiction. 10-12)