New Study Traces Bat Evolution Back to Europe 65 Million Years Ago

Scientists say bats first appeared in Europe 65 million years ago during the late Palaeocene period, according to the largest study ever done on bat genes and fossils. This timeline lines up with a time of higher global temperatures and environmental shifts, changing past ideas that bats came from Africa or North America. A massive team of 137 scientists from 64 countries, working together in the Bat1K group, published these findings in the journal Nature. From Europe, the animals spread first to Africa, and then moved on to Asia, the Americas, and Australia. Today, bats make up one-fifth of all living mammals, with 1,500 species found on every continent except Antarctica. The study also shows that the ability to fly and use echolocation to navigate and hunt in the dark developed right at the start of bat evolution. Sonja Vernes, a co-author and founder of Bat1K from the University of St. Andrews, notes that flight gave bats a big advantage in spreading across the world. Researchers spent decades putting together this huge dataset, looking at 103 species that cover all 21 living families, using advanced DNA tools to compare genes and fossils. Beyond their bad reputation as spreaders of disease, bats play key roles in nature by pollinating plants, spreading seeds, and controlling insect pests. Several bat species live unusually long lives compared to other mammals of a similar size, and they can host many viruses without getting sick. Scientists plan to use this new genetic data to find out how bats live so long while fighting off disease, with the long-term goal of using these insights to help improve human health.