From Australia's bush to Mexico's Pacific coast — hanging in trees, perched high up on mountains, hidden in caves, rock crevices, and rooftops—bats are the most widely distributed mammal on Earth, inhabiting every continent except Antarctica. Making up about 20% of all mammals, these nocturnal creatures are the second most common mammal after rodents, and the only one capable of sustained flight.

Safely snuggled in the crease of a heliconia plant, these Honduran white bats have carefully cut the vein of this leaf to make it fall into a tent shape. One of only five types of white bats out of 1,400 species and only 4-5cm long, they're sometimes called the "marshmallow puff" of the bat family. As if that isn't cute enough, these tiny bats are frugivorous, surviving almost entirely on figs.

Although they've long been considered sinister creatures in many parts of the world, only three species of bat actually drink blood. They use their sharp teeth to shear away hair on the skin of their prey before making a small incision to lap up blood. Sleeping cattle and horses are their usual victims, but they have been known to feed on people, and can cause nasty infections and disease.

There's a very good reason for bats' beady eyes and comically large ears: echolation. Most bats have very poor eyesight and rely on sonar to find food in the dark. They generate extremely high-pitched sounds in their throat and project them forward. The bats' huge ears detect echoes from those sounds bouncing off the surroundings, enabling them to map their surroundings with great precision.

Bats have incredible ecological importance, not least because of their role in pollination. More than 500 plant species depend on bats to pollinate their flowers, including banana, avocado, mango and agave plants. Some bats, like the tube-lipped nectar bat of Eduador, the Mexican banana bat and the long-nosed bat (pictured), are equipped with extraordinarily long tongues for this exact reason.

Bats are natural hosts for several viruses, such as SARS, MERS, SARS-CoV-2 and possibly Ebola, as well as Marburg, Nipah and Hendra. Scientists think their unique immune systems allow them to carry pathogens lethal to other species — a high body temperature and high levels of interferon (a substance that activates the body's antiviral state) are two characteristics thought to keep bats healthy.

Although bats only have one pup a year, most of them outlive many other mammals. Some species' lifespans are 30 years, while the oldest bat on record lived to 41. They also don't age. Well, not really. Some scientific studies think the reason for their longevity is due to their unique ability to prevent and repair age-induced cellular damage, protecting them against cancer.

It isn't unusual for animals to migrate to avoid harsh winters, but the sun-seeking Arctic tern takes this strategy to extremes. The small seabird flies between the Arctic and Antarctic to take in two summers each year and more daylight hours than any other animal. Making a round trip of 35,000 kilometers (21,748 miles), the tern breaks all records for migratory distances traveled.

If the tern takes prize for distance, the salmon surely deserves special commendation for effort. Hatching in rivers, they swim downstream to spend most of their lives at sea. But the hard work comes as they battle against the current and leap up waterfalls to make it home. If this wasn't struggle enough, hungry bears, eagles and people lie in wait for the exhausted fish as they near their goal.

By day, straw colored fruit bats hang from Africa's city trees like assemblages of broken umbrellas. But at twilight, they take gracefully to the air, traveling up to 180 kilometers before dawn and dispersing seeds and pollen as they feed. They span even greater distances by season, and in colossal numbers. Each fall, around 10 million of these "megabats" arrive in Zambia's Kasanka National Park.

Many whales hunt in polar regions but can travel 18,000 kilometers each year to enjoy warmer waters. Scientists had assumed they prefer to give birth in the tropics. But new research suggests they might be migrating for the sake of their skin. Whales need to molt, and in icy waters where their blood supply is drawn away from the skin, dead cells build up and put them at risk of infection.

It's hard to imagine a creature as tiny and fragile as a butterfly undertaking epic migratory journeys. And yet, surfing air currents, the monarch butterfly can travel up to 3,000 kilometers. In summer, they're at home in northern regions of the US, but when temperatures fall, they head south to California or Mexico to overwinter. Roosting together in large numbers helps them keep warm all year.

Leatherback turtles travel up to 10,000 kilometers, from Canada to the Caribbean and Alaska to Indonesia. No one knows how they find their way from feeding grounds rich in their favorite foods like jellyfish to the beaches where they breed. But scientists believe a spot on top of the animal's head may allow light to reach its pineal gland, triggering its journey at the right moment of the year.

The mass movement of wildebeest across the African plains is perhaps the planet's greatest migration spectacle. With no real beginning or end, their circular route takes 1.5 million wildebeest, and a good number of zebras, gazelles and other grazers, through the Serengeti-Mara — crossing crocodile-infested rivers and dodging lions and packs of painted wolves —- in search of fresh food and water.

Famous for their parental devotion, emperor penguins lay their eggs a good 100 kilometers from the Antarctic ocean where they feed. Mother and father must take turns to travel across the ice, fill up on fish, and make the long shuffle back to regurgitate it for their young. Their partner, meanwhile, goes hungry for weeks to shield the chick from cold that would otherwise kill it in minutes.