Bat Basics

The Bat Basics

Most of what people "know" about bats isn't really fact, but century old superstition. From fables to folklore, bats have been portrayed as evil blood-sucking creatures. It's little wonder, therefore, that most people are both frightened of and uneducated about the truth. So, what is the real story?

FIRST: what bats aren't. Before giving you all the bat facts, let's dispel some of the myths. Bats aren't:

Blind. In fact, many can see quite well.
Rodents. Although both rodents and bats belong to the mammal family, bats may be more closely related to primates than to rodents.

WHAT BATS ARE: Bats are mammals, which means that they are warm-blooded, have fur, and produce milk. They are the only mammals that can fly, and their wings are very different from those of birds. Bats live all over the world, and eat a wide range of food. They are an important part of our ecosystem, and need our conservation efforts to avoid extinction. To learn more, keep reading…

Bat Food: A bat's diet depends on its location and its adaptations.

About 70% of the world's bats eat only insects, and some of these bats can catch up to 2000 insects a night! These bats use echolocation to find their prey.
Other bats eat mainly fruit, and these bats live in tropical regions around the globe. Fruit-eating bats generally seek out dinner using their eyes and their keen sense of smell.
A desert bat uses its long nose and tongue to take nectar from flowers.
Carnivorous bats, which eat small vertebrates including frogs, fish, rodents or birds, have especially sharp claws and teeth to help them catch and eat their food.
Of the almost 1,000 species of bats, only 3 are vampire bats, and they live exclusively in South America. Contrary to popular belief, these bats do not suck blood, but rather lap it up similar to how a dog drinks water. Vampire bats have a number of specialized features that aid them in their diet: their two sharp front teeth are used to prick a sleeping animal; an anticoagulant in their saliva stops the blood from clotting, allowing the bat to lap up the 2 tablespoons of blood it needs. Despite their bad reputation, vampire bats are actually gentle creatures! The main threat that these bats pose to society is the spread of disease by feeding on cattle.

Bat Homes: Bats are nocturnal creatures, which means that they sleep during the day, and come out to find food at night. During the day, bats roost in colonies or alone within caves, buildings, trees, bridges, and almost anywhere that will provide good shelter. Some of the really incredible shelters include: under the bark of trees, inside rolled-up palm fronds, within bamboo stems or giant cacti, and even in spider webs.
Loss of appropriate shelters to industrial development is a principal cause of bat endangerment. Conservationists are trying to accommodate bats that live in developed areas by studying their natural roosting habitats and providing artificial homes called bat boxes.

Bats Come in All Different Sizes: Bats come in a huge variety of sizes, which isn't surprising considering the huge number of species there are. The largest bat is Pteropus vampyrus, a fruit-eating bat with a wingspan of up to six feet! The smallest bat is Craseonycteris thonglongyai, an insect-eating bat that has a wingspan of only 6 inches and weighs less than a penny!

Echolocation: Echolocation is a special sonar system used by bats to help them navigate. A bat will send out a high-frequency signal from its nose or mouth, which will bounce off of objects in its surrounding area. The signals reflected back to the bat (echoes) are picked up and processed to give a location and distance. Using echolocation, bats can easily find insects and avoid obstacles while flying.

Bats are Important in Many Ways:

Controlling the insect population. A single little brown bat can catch up to 600 mosquitoes in an hour, and some bats can even catch up to 2,000 mosquito-sized insects in an hour.
Pollinating plants. In the wild, bats are responsible for new plant growth through pollination and seed dropping. This is especially important in tropical areas. But even in drier climates such as the North American southwest, nectar-feeding bats are the main pollinators of certain plants-in this case, the saguaro cactus.
Certain bats are helpful to farmers. These bats help save crops from damage by eating rootworms.

Thanks to Bat Conservation International for information used in this page