| (Add a grain of salt because I searched for about 15 minutes here.) Doing some digging, paws are "soft foot-like parts of a mammal, generally a quadruped, that has claws" (Wikipedia). Bats do appear to have claws, but not really with the same structure as a paw; they don't seem to be mounted above a soft, fleshy pad. Rather, they're at the top of the wing, sitting on bone. They're also very different in function, when I've had the fortune to see a bat they seemed to use the claw to climb in a similar way to how climbers use ice axes. My impression is that bat's claws are the anatomical equivalent of a thumb, not a hand/paw, and that the entire paw or hand of bat's ancestors evolved into their wings (sort of like if your fingers became very long and webbed and then you were able to fly with them). So, my conclusion is that no, the claws of a bat are not a paw. ETA: I neglected to consider their hind claws, but I don't think those are padded either. https://i.pinimg.com/originals/1e/8d/09/1e8d0923d5caf2dbab68... That certainly has claws but I wouldn't describe that as being soft or as being similar to a paw. And they're pretty clearly made for hanging, climbing, and grasping prey/food, and not for walking. |
Anyway I'm enjoying imagining bats with little paws, it's an amusing image.