Bat Facts

Forget all those stories about bats being blind, becoming entangled in hair, and transmitting diseases to humans and animals. Myths about bats abound, but the facts about these animals are actually far more interesting.

 

Bats Are Gentle

• These non-aggressive creatures will only bite in self-defense.
• Bat pups will cling to their mothers until they are too big to carry; then they are left in a nursing colony.
• Bats have been known to adopt orphan bats.
• Bats have been observed risking their lives to share food with other bats.

Bats Are Surprising

• Bats are the only mammals capable of flight.
• Bats may resemble rodents, but scientists believe they are more closely related to primates.
• Bats number 40 species in the United States and nearly 1,000 species around the world.
• The world's smallest bat, the bumblebee bat, weighs less than a penny. One of the world's largest bats, Lyle's flying fox, has a wingspan of nearly six feet.
• North America's common little brown bat has the world's longest lifespan for a mammal of its size, sometimes living more than 32 years.
• The African heart-nosed bat can hear the footsteps of a beetle walking on sand from a distance of more than six feet.

Bats Are Beneficial

• Bats are the most important natural enemies of night-flying insects.
• A single little brown bat can catch more than 1,000 mosquitoes in just one hour, while a colony of 150 big brown bats can protect local farmers from as many as 18 million rootworms each summer.
• Plants important to humans—including bananas, breadfruit, mangoes, cashews, dates, and figs—depend on bats for pollination and seed dispersal.
• Desert ecosystems rely on nectar-feeding bats as the primary pollinators of giant cacti, including the famous organ pipe and saguaro of Arizona.
• Rain forests need bats to pollinate flowers and disperse seeds.

Bats Are at Risk

• Bats are exceptionally vulnerable to extinction because their reproductive rate is the slowest of the world's smaller mammals, with only one offspring produced annually.
• More than 50 percent of American bat species are in severe decline or are already listed as endangered.
• A loss of bats increases the demand for chemical pesticides, jeopardizing whole ecosystems of other animal and plant species and harming human economies.
• With natural habitat rapidly shrinking, your backyard has become increasingly important as a possible place for bats to live or rest during seasonal migrations. Providing safe roosts for bats will help improve their chances for survival.

Points to Remember

• Enjoy watching bats, especially at dusk, but never attempt to touch a bat.
• Bats are wild animals and are afraid of humans. A bat who allows you to touch him or her may be sick.
• Because bats are not aggressive, you need only leave them alone to be safe.
• If you find a live bat on the ground, call your local animal control agency or health department. Do not disturb bats, particularly when they are hibernating.