Bats are the only flying mammal and make up about 20% of all mammal species. They are the second largest order of mammals (second to rodents).
Bats are not rodents or birds. They belong to their own order called "Chiroptera."
Some bats eat more than 70% of their body weight insects in a single night and a pregnant bat can consume 100% of their body weight in insects. This could be 5000 insects in a night from a single bat. They are nature's ultimate insect control. This has many advantages. It reduces crop destroying insects which saves billions of dollars in the agriculture industry. This saving flows over to reduce cost for the consumer. Bats consume thousands of mosquitoes each night which helps reduce the spread of malaria.
Fruit and nectar feeding bats pollinate many plants, including an estimated 450 commercial plants
Bats help control diseases such as malaria by consuming many of the insects that spread such diseases.
De Hoop cave is the largest known roost in South Africa with an estimated 300,000 bats. This large numbers of bats is estimated to eat 100 tons every year and saving farmers thousands of rands on insecticides every year.
Studies have shown that bats save the corn industry more than $1 billion annually from the corn earworm which is destructive to corn crops.
Less than half a percent (0.5%) of bats carry rabies. As with any wild animal, you should leave them alone and do not touch them. Most animals are more scared of you than you are of them. Leave them alone and they will leave you alone.
Bats could care less about your hair. This goes back to the insects. When you are outside on a warm night, what is flying around your head? Insects! The bats are after the insects, not your hair. So you should thank them for helping you out.
Bats are actually very clean and will groom their self like a cat.
They are important pollinators and seed dispensers and are critical for tropical reforestation. Bats help pollinate fruit which is necessary and they also spread seeds which helps bring new fruit trees. Some fruit that they help are bananas and agave. Do you like tequila? Well, you need to thank bats because without bats there would be no agave and therefore, no tequila.
Bats have been found (fossils and live) on all continents except the poles and a few islands. Their habitat ranges from tree lines in the north to tree line in the south. The only exclusion are the permanent snow covered areas and extreme deserts.
Most sounds from bats are too high a frequency for humans to hear. Those who study bats use
Bracken Cave (Texas) has the largest bat population in the world with over 20 million Mexican Free-tailed Bats. In one night they consume several tons of insects that destroy agriculture crops or carry malaria. Just in south central Texas, it is estimated to save farmers $741,000 a year in pest control in the cotton production.
There are only three species of bats that drink blood and they are located in Central and South America. It is a myth about bats drinking your blood. As for those who live in the area of vampire bats, the bats prefer to drink blood from animals such as cattle and poultry (birds). So you are safe from encountering blood sucking bats as they do not exist.
So I hope these facts about bats provided you with a new insight about bats and created new and positive thoughts about bats. The next time you see a bat, enjoy what you are watching and understand that bat is helping make your life better.
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