| Bats are the only mammals to have acquired the gift of flight thanks to the very thin elastic brown skin that covers their legs and fingers. Their eyes are very small. Their snout and ears are adapted to the emission and reception of ultrasound. The waves of ultrasound, after bouncing off an obstacle or prey and being captured by the ears, are used to orientate and guide the bat through the dark.
Pipistrelle shelters are located in buildings, under roof tiles and in the cracks of faēades. They are nocturnal and are tireless consumers of flying insects. They are inactive during months with cold nights. They mate in the autumn but fertilisation does not take place until the following spring, and the young are not born until the end of May. The baby bats are carried by the mother clinging from her chest.
The figure of a bat can be seen on the modernist lamp-posts along Passeig de Grącia and on the old city shields of Barcelona (as in Palma de Mallorca and Valencia). This is an erroneous interpretation of the winged dragon of the royal seals and shields of the Catalan kings, which at some point was taken to be a bat.
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