Wikipedia talk:Featured article candidates/Bat/archive1

Bats are mammals of the order Chiroptera, and are the only ones capable of sustained flight. Their wings, spread-out fingers covered by a thin membrane, make them more manoeuvrable than birds. Bats range in size from Kitti's hog-nosed bat, weighing 2–2.6 g (0.07–0.09 oz), to the giant golden-crowned flying fox, up to 1.6 kg (4 lb) with a wingspan of up to 1.7 m (5 ft 7 in). The second largest order of mammals after rodents, bats comprise about 20% of all mammal species, with over 1,200 species distributed across the world. Most bats are nocturnal. They are mostly insect- and fruit-eaters, but some are more carnivorous, such as vampire bats. Some are important for pollinating flowers and dispersing seeds; others consume insect pests, reducing the need for pesticides. Bats harbour many communicable diseases, such as rabies. They are often associated with darkness, malevolence, vampires, and death. (Full article...)

LittleJerry, Chiswick Chap and Dunkleosteus77, we're almost done with the blurbs for articles promoted at FAC in 2018. Thoughts and edits are welcome. - Dank (push to talk) 03:15, 12 December 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for the edit ... that's mostly fine. "They are important for pollinating flowers and dispersing seeds" is technically right, in the sense that the order as a whole is important in this role, but I don't think that meets WP:ERRORS standards, since it would be easy for a reader to think that we're saying that all bats pollinate flowers. I'm not taking a position on vampire bats, or on the "darkness" sentence. "However" probably won't work for the ERRORS folks. I personally think there's nothing wrong with "contagious diseases", because that sense is supported by many dictionaries, but some will say that "infectious" or "communicable" is better (or "pathogens", the word used in the lead). - Dank (push to talk) 14:16, 12 December 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks Chiswick, that helps. Two small tweaks: harbor -> harbour, They <-> Bats. - Dank (push to talk) 18:03, 12 December 2019 (UTC)[reply]