This award-winning* poster features all 28 bat species that are found in Arizona at least part of the year as well as a labeled drawing of bat anatomy. Printed on one side in full color. Click on the image to the right for a larger view. This poster is available for free to Arizona educators at one of the Department's regional offices.

Note: Information about the availability of our posters has recently been posted on several Web sites that publicize free merchandise for the public, resulting in numerous requests for us to mail posters to requestors outside of Arizona. Our posters are designed primarily for Arizona educators/students or Arizona outreach events and are tied to the Focus Wild Arizona wildlfie education program. Due to budgetary constraints, we cannot mail posters. If you are visiting Arizona, please stop by an Arizona Game and Fish Department office for a free poster, or you can download and print a copy from this page by clicking on the poster image to the right.

* This poster won third place at the 2005 Association for Conservation Information awards ceremony!

Classroom Ideas

Click on the grade level below to find some standards-based suggestions for incorporating this poster into your classroom. Because many of the activities are repeated at other grade levels, these are simply suggestions that may need to be modified for your students' abilities.

Note: Many of the activities have been modified from the “Educator’s Activity Book About Bats” published by Bat Conservation International in 1991 and “Discover Bats” by Merlin Tuttle and Bat Conservation International in 1998.

A Word about Rabies

All mammals can develop rabies and all animals will bite when they feel threatened. It is important not to approach ANY wildlife . Rabies is spread through a bite or exposure of an open wound to saliva or mucous membranes of an infected animal. Therefore, if you find a bat on the ground or hanging low on a building wall, don't touch it or pick it up. A bat that is within reach and doesn't fly away when approached is quite likely a sick bat. If you find a bat behaving this way, please leave it alone and contact the Arizona Game and Fish Department or your appropriate county health agency.

Check out the "My Friend Toby" Bat Bites comic book [PDF, 2mb] (also available in Spanish) published by Maricopa County for a fun way to educate about rabies and bats.

Use the links below for more information.

• Bat Conservation Intenational: Public Health Issues
• Center for Disease Control and Prevention: Bats and Rabies

Additional Resources

Below are links that will provide you with additional bat resources.

• Bats: Are Where Its At Classroom Presentation
• Night Friends American Bats Online Activity Guide
• Bat Conservation International
• Arizona Game and Fish Department: Bat Conservation and Management
• Arizona Game and Fish Research: Influence of Forest Restoration Treatments on Tree Roosting Bat Communities
• Arizona Game and Fish Research: Seasonal Use of Mine Shafts by Bats on the Buckeye Army National Guard Training Area
• Living with Bats

* 3rd place in the Posters Category from the Association of Conservation Information (2005)