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…