Why do bats feed at night?
By 100 million years ago, a great diversity of flowering plants became the most common vegetation on earth (according to studies of fossil plants and their pollen). Insects became abundant. By the time the first bats evolved there were already large numbers of birds feeding on fruit, nectar and insects during the day. Scientists think that bats evolved from small, nocturnal mammals to feed on night flying insects – therefore avoiding competition with birds that are active during the day. Megabats may have evolved from different ancestors to feed on night-flowering, nectar-producing plants.
