Bats

What to do if you find a Bat

If you have found a bat and are in need of immediate help, please click here for information courtesy of Bat World Sanctuary
(link: http://www.batworld.org/what-to-do-if-you-found_a_bat/)

How to Coexist with Bats

Please see information courtesy of Bat World Sanctuary: http://www.batworld.org/bat_problems/

About Bats (Order: Chiroptera)

  • Bats are flying mammals in the order Chiroptera. Chiroptera comes from two Greek words, cheir "hand" and pteron "wing."
  • The forelimbs of bats are webbed and developed as wings, making them the only mammals naturally capable of true and sustained flight.
  • Bats do not flap their entire forelimbs, as birds do, but instead flap their spread out digits which are very long and covered with a thin membrane or patagium.
  • There are about 1,240 bat species worldwide, which represent about twenty percent of all classified mammal species.
  • About seventy percent of bats are insectivores. Most of the rest are fruigivores, or fruit eaters. A few species such as the Fish-eating Bat feed from animals other than insects, with the vampire bats being the only mammalian parasite species.

Bat Facts

  • Bats are present throughout most of the world and perform vital ecological roles such as pollinating flowers and dispersing fruit seeds. Many tropical plant species depend entirely on bats for the distribution of their seeds.
  • Bats are found in almost every habitat available on Earth. Different species select different habitat during different seasons but bat habitats have two basic requirements: roosts, where they spend the day or hibernate, and places for foraging. Bat roosts can be found in hollows, crevices, foliage, and even human-made structures; and include "tents" that bats construct by biting leaves.
  • Although the eyes of most bat species are small and poorly developed, leading to poor visual acuity, none of them are blind. Vision is used to navigate especially for long distances when beyond the range of echolocation. It has even been discovered that some species are able to detect ultraviolet light. They also have a high quality sense of smell and hearing.
  • Bats hunt at night to avoid competition with birds, and travel long distances (at most 800 km), in their search for food.
  • Almost three-fourths of the world’s bats are insect eaters. Insects consumed by bats include both aerial insects and ground-dwelling insects. Each bat is typically able to consume one third of its body weight in insects each night, and several hundred insects in a few hours. This means that a group of one thousand bats could eat four tons of insects each year. If bats were to become extinct, the insect population is calculated to reach an alarmingly high number.