In bats, the wing membrane that stretches between the arms and hand bones; the membranous wing surface of a bat.
From Greek 'cheir' (hand) + Latin 'patagium' (edge or border of fabric). The term precisely describes how bat wings are essentially membranes stretched across hand-like structures.
A bat's chiropatagium is so sensitive it can detect the echo of a single grain of sand bouncing off an insect—it's both a wing and a sophisticated sensory organ!
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