10 Facts You Need to Know About Bats
There are many misleading legends about bats. People have long been very afraid of them. Bats usually move at night, which gives them some dark colors. Some film and television works also associate them with vampires and diseases, which further aggravates people's prejudice against them. But in fact, we still don't know enough about bats. They prey on pests to maintain environmental balance and can spread seeds. In general, bats are more beneficial than harmful to humans. Here are some interesting facts about bats.
There are More Bat Species Than You Think
There are more than 1,400 known species of bats, which are found all over the world and are the second largest group of mammals after rodents. They account for about a quarter of all mammal species. What is less well known is that they are also the only mammals that can fly. Although animals such as flying squirrels, flying squirrels or shrews can glide through the air, they do not have the ability to actively fly. They rely on membranes to glide from a height, rather than using muscles to drive their wings to generate lift like bats do.
Bats Eat a Lot of Insects Every Night
Insectivorous bats are known for their voracious appetites, which is a trait that makes them extremely ecologically valuable. A single little brown bat can eat more than 600 mosquitoes or similar-sized pests in an hour. Overnight, a single bat can devour thousands of bugs. Multiply that number by the number of individuals in a bat colony, and you have a natural pest control system quietly operating in the night sky.
Bat colonies in Texas eat hundreds of thousands of pounds of insects each night, reducing the need for farmers to use chemical pesticides, saving the agricultural industry tens of millions of dollars each year.
Bats' Eyesight is Not Bad
Although people often say "blind as a bat", this is actually a misunderstanding. In fact, bats' eyesight is not bad, and many species even have quite good eyesight, but they rely more on echolocation to navigate and hunt at night. For example, insectivorous bats are usually nocturnal. They rely on emitting high-frequency sound waves and receiving reflected echoes to judge the surrounding environment. Although their eyesight is average, they are not "blind" and can see obstacles clearly in low light.
Fruit bats are usually larger and eat fruit or nectar. They do not have the ability to echolocate, but rely on developed vision and olfactory activities. They have good eyesight, and some even have color vision.
They are Radar-carrying Pilots
Bats navigate the night sky with amazing precision, and their natural radar system is very effective. Little brown bats, for example, produce calls that last only a few milliseconds. During regular flight, they emit about 20 calls per second, but when homing in on prey, that number can rise dramatically to 200 calls per second. This rapid-fire sonar gives them a real-time map of their surroundings, allowing them to dodge branches, detect a moth in mid-air, or fly through a narrow cave—all with split-second accuracy.
Amazingly, engineers are also studying bats' echolocation to improve sonar and navigation technology.
They are Little Guys Who Like to Sleep
Interestingly, bats are also one of the mammals that sleep the longest, with most of them sleeping an average of 16 to 20 hours a day. Due to their nocturnal habits, they usually hang upside down in a cool, dark place to rest during the day. This not only avoids interference from natural enemies and sunlight, but also restores the physical strength consumed by flying and hunting. In addition, when food is scarce or the temperature is low, bats will enter "mild hibernation" or "daytime hibernation" (torpor), further extending the rest time to reduce energy consumption. Therefore, bats spend most of their time resting or sleeping every day, and are veritable "night shift creatures."
Vampire Bats do Exist
Bats are often demonized as the embodiment of vampires, but there are only three types of bats that really suck blood: Desmodus rotundus , Diphylla ecaudata, and Diaemus youngi. The behavior of these bats is not as scary as people imagine. Vampire bats are part of the insectivorous bats. They feed on the blood of birds, cattle, and horses, but they do not suck a lot of blood through small mouthfuls as depicted in the movies, so the animal host does not lose a lot of blood in the short term. Their blood-sucking behavior usually has little effect on the host. The only thing to note is that they may spread some diseases, especially rabies. Therefore, you need to be careful when contacting these bats.
Many Bats in The United States are Hibernators
Some people ask if bats are hibernating animals? The answer to this question cannot be generalized, but many bats in the United States are hibernating animals. Whether a bat hibernates depends on the living environment and climate it lives in. In the northern, midwestern and eastern regions of the United States where winters are cold, many local bat species such as Little Brown Bat and Big Brown Bat hibernate. They spend the winter in groups in caves and mines or cellars or old buildings. Throughout the winter, their metabolism is weakened, they do not eat, and they survive by slowly burning the fat accumulated in the summer.
Some bats living in warm southern states (such as Florida, Texas, Arizona, etc.) do not hibernate but remain active all year round, or only reduce their activity when the weather is bad or food is reduced, entering a short-term "torpor".
In addition, some bat species (including Red Bat, Silver-haired Bat and Eastern Pipistrelle) choose to migrate south instead of hibernating, looking for places with milder winter climates.
Bats Have Limited Reproductive Capacity
Most bats only give birth once a year, and the breeding season is usually concentrated in spring or summer. Only when food resources are abundant and the climate is suitable. Most bats reproduce as singletons like humans, giving birth to only one cub each year, and only a few bat species, such as some larger bats, may give birth to twins. Newborn bats will die quickly without the care of their mothers, so mother bats will breastfeed after giving birth, usually for 1 to 2 months, until the cubs are capable enough to start flying and foraging independently.
Compared with some multi-birth animals and high-yield animals, bats do not have high reproductive capacity, but fortunately they have a longer lifespan. At least longer than other mammals of the same size. For example, Big Brown Bat can live to 20 years old, and generally speaking, the average lifespan of bats is more than 10 years.
The Biggest and Smallest Bats
There is a huge difference in size between different species of bats. The Flying Fox, for example, is native to tropical regions of Asia and Australia. It has a wingspan of up to 5.5 feet, and some individuals can be up to 12 inches long from head to tail. Their size and appearance may sound scary, but they mainly feed on fruits, nectar, and flowers, playing a vital role in pollination and seed dispersal.
On the other hand, the Kitti’s Hog-nosed Bat, Craseonycteris thonglongyai, is about the size of a bumblebee, so it is also called a bumblebee bat. It lives in Thailand and Myanmar, weighs only about 0.07 ounces, and has a wingspan of about 5.7 inches. It is generally considered the smallest mammal in terms of weight. It mainly feeds on insects.
Bat Populations are Declining Rapidly
More than 50% of bat species in the United States are in serious decline or are listed as endangered. This is not just happening in the United States, but also around the world. The most devastating disease to bat populations in North America is an infectious disease called White-Nose Syndrome (WNS). This is a fungus that infects hibernating bats, causing them to wake up prematurely from hibernation, leading to exhaustion and even death. This disease has killed millions of bats.
In addition, human activities are increasingly destroying bat habitats, resulting in fewer and fewer places for bats to rest and raise their offspring. Excessive human interference has also led to a decline in bat populations, which is increasingly worrying for ecological and environmental health.
In view of this situation, you can build a bat house for bats to provide them with a safe habitat, thereby protecting these beneficial animals and supporting the protection of the ecosystem. In return, they will help you keep pests such as mosquitoes away from the surrounding area. This is the win-win situation we want to see for people and nature to coexist in harmony.