A Little About Bats

Bats are one of the most misunderstood and persecuted native wild animals. They are also the animals most immediately beneficial to humans.

 

In the United States there are 44 species of bats. Unlike the bats you've seen in horror movies, native bats are tiny. They range in weight from 3 grams to 35 grams. Thirty-five grams is equal to 1¼ ounces. Some species, like the read bat (Lasiurus borealis) and the hoary bat (Lasiurus cinereus), prefer to live alone in trees. Other species, like the big brown bat (Eptesicus fuscus), the little brown bat (Myotis lucifugus), and the Mexican free-tailed bat (Tadarida barziliensis), live in groups called colonies. Colonial bats are more likely to inhabit a bat house.

 

Bats are very shy creatures. Like most wild animals, they avoid contact with humans and go about the business of eating, reproducing, and avoiding predators. Bats are nocturnal, resting during the day and hunting insects at night.

 

Nearly all bats that live in the United States feed on insects. They eat night-flying insects that destroy our crops, and those that make our lives miserable by biting us. One bat can eat up to 600 mosquito- and gnat-sized insects in one hour. Bats are a natural alternative to toxic chemicals which endanger our personal and environmental well-being.

 

Bats are the only true flying mammals. They give birth from mid-May through July, and they nurse their pups in the same way other mammals do.

 

Bats either migrate or hibernate during the winter. Although bats are "warm-blooded", they have the ability to lower their body temperatures to the temperature of their surroundings: this is called torpor. In the winter, bats go into a deep, extended torpor called hibernation. It is very important not to disturb hibernating bats because they can lose valuable energy reserves and die.