From Hang on, do those cuddly bats really purr in your hand?:
Bats make excellent pets and will even purr in the hands of their owners, according to a Dublin zoologist and bat expert.In a study to be published in the journal Science today, Dr Emma Teeling of UCD’s Department of Zoology says bats are ‘lovely creatures’ which are actually very friendly.
Dr. Teeling performs a phylogenetic analysis of the 1,100 known bat species, it gets published in Science, and the headline reads cuddly bats really purr in your hand. Wow.
By the way, I have it on good authority that she prefers pet cats.