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CCSS: 4.NBT.A.1

TEKS: 3.2A, 3.2B, 4.2B

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Unbelievable Bats

October 2017
By Alexa Kurzius
Geza Farkas/Shutterstock.com

Bats are the world’s only flying mammals. There are more than 1,300 species! Many bats navigate by echolocation. They make sounds and listen for the echoes to tell where things are. Find out more about these unbelievable animals.  

Bug-Eating Machine

A single bat can eat one thousand, two hundred mosquitoes in one hour.

Write this number in standard form.

Sick Bats

5,500,000 bats have died from a disease called white-nose syndrome. It’s caused by a fungus that grows on the noses and ears of some hibernating bats. 

Write this number in word form.

Most City Bats

Austin, Texas, boasts the world’s largest urban bat colony. 750,000 to 1,500,000 bats hang below the Congress Avenue Bridge.

Write each number in unit form.

Biggest and Smallest Bats

The world’s smallest mammal is the bumblebee bat (below), which has a wingspan of 17 centimeters. In contrast, the flying fox bat has a wingspan of 170 centimeters, making it the world’s largest bat species.

Write these numbers in expanded form. Do you notice a pattern?

JEFFREY A. MCNEELY

Words to Know

PLACE VALUE: The value of a digit based on its location in a number

STANDARD FORM: The way we usually write numbers, with each digit arranged by place value

WORD FORM: A way of writing a number using words to represent place value

EXPANDED FORM: A way of writing a number as the sum of each digit’s place value

UNIT FORM: A way of writing a number using numerals and their place value expressed as a unit

Number & Operations
Whole Number Place Value
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