My enthusiasm for bats always seems to raise a few eyebrows. Most people don’t see them as the misunderstood, hardworking heroes of the ecosystem, like I do. Are you a skeptic, too? Here are five fast facts that might begin to change your mind about bats:
- One bat can eat hundreds of insects an hour! It can actually consume 30 – 50% of its body weight in insects each night, protecting our gardens and crops from nasty pests. Most bats eat insects, but some eat fruit, nectar, fish, other vertebrates, and yes, some eat blood (though they don’t suck it).
- Bats use echolocation – a type of sonar – to detect objects like trees, buildings and bugs. This sonar helps them
hunt and avoid predators and people. They really don’t want to get tangled in your hair. - A baby bat is called a pup. How cute it that? A female bat will give birth to one or two pups a year, and only about half of those will survive their first winter, which means a bat population grows very slowly over time. Some can live 20 – 25 years in the wild.
- Bats aren’t built for winter. Some species, like the hoary bat, escape the cold by migrating to warmer areas and other species, like the little brown bat, hibernate.
- Bats are the only mammal that can truly fly. Their wings are thin membranes that stretch between fingers, forelegs, hind legs and tail bones. These wings can flap up to 20 times per second and can fold up neatly to allow the bat to walk or climb, if necessary.
If you still aren’t convinced that bats are amazing critters, stay tuned – I’ll have more interesting details about bats all month as the excitement builds for International Bat Week!
