We Finally Know Where Bats Came From-and Dracula Would Approve

Scientists have finally solved an enduring mystery about the only true flying mammal in the world. In a study out today, a large international team of researchers seems to have pinpointed the exact geographical origins of the bat.

The researchers analyzed dozens of ancient bat fossils and sequenced the genomes of over 100 different species across all known families of bat. Based on this analysis, the very first bats almost certainly originated from Europe, they found. The still-growing genome collection should help scientists answer many more questions about these remarkable animals.

“By publishing the genome assemblies and all the data, we expect to catalyze the study of bats as mammals with a series of unique anatomical, aging, and immunological traits,” study author Liliana Davalos, a conservation biologist and phylogeneticist at Stony Brook University in New York, told Gizmodo.