Bats are misunderstood creatures. Facts: They are the only mammal that can fly. They are found all over the world. They rarely carry or transmit rabies. They won't intentionally try to fly into your hair. They have excellent eyesight, contrary to popular belief. They are obsessively clean and groom themselves constantly. And a single little brown bat can eat over a thousand mosquitoes in one hour.
In addition, there are over 1200 species of bats in the world. Many are endangered. You can help.
Bat houses are a great addition to your yard/property. Thousands of insect pests will be eliminated if you add a bat house to your garden. Do check into it.
Meanwhile, enjoy the diversity that the bat world has to offer. And don't be afraid! They won't hurt you!
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| LITTLE YELLOW BAT Found only in Mexico, these bats can be found hanging out in cacti and are active just after sunrise and into the early afternoon. |
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| GREY-HEADED FLYING FOX Extra-large bats are also known as flying foxes or megabats. These guys are native to Australia and their roosts are called colonies or camps. |
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| GRIFFIN'S LEAF-NOSED BAT This Vietnam native is sadly considered "world's ugliest bat". They were just discovered in Vietnam in 2008. Where were they hiding?? |
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| LITTLE BROWN BAT Little Brown Bats sleep upwards of 19 hours a day and are most active at dusk for about 3-4 hours. |
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| BIG BROWN BAT Female brown bats will form a "nursery colony" in which to raise their young. It can hold up to 300 bats. |
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| COMMON TUBE-NOSED BAT These bats mimic dead leaves on trees when they are roosting and have long, unusual tubular nostrils, hence the name. |
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| FORMOSAN TAILLESS LEAF-NOSED BAT This strange-looking character was thought to be extinct until they were discovered alive and well in Taiwan. |
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| JAMAICAN FRUIT BATS This rather unattractive bat has a large horn on his nose as well as a snout covered with warts. Lovely. |
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| FRINGE-LIPPED BAT Also known for their horned noses covered with warts, these lovelies have but one offspring at a time which stay with the parents for an extended period of time. |
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| WHISKERED BAT Whiskered bats can live up to 19 years and are found mostly in the United Kingdom. In Britain, bats are a protected species. |
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| GOLDEN-CROWNED FRUIT BAT One of the largest bats in the world, this flying fox faces extinction due to poachers. They can travel up to 25 miles in one night in search for their favorite food: figs. |
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| GRAY LONG-EARED BAT These guys are very rare due to poisoning from insecticides that are applied to timbers where bats roost. Spraying is now illegal but the effects can last and cause damage to bats for up to 20 years. |
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| HOARY BAT No bigger than a mouse, they have heavy brown fur tipped with white,giving it a frosted look. They commonly have twins for offspring. |
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| HORSESHOE BAT One of Britain's most endangered bats, they give birth upside down, hanging by their feet. They can live up to 30 years. |
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| LESSER BAMBOO BAT The Lesser Bamboo bat is considered the world's smallest bat. A group or colony of these bats are called a "cloud". |
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| MEXICAN FREE-TAILED BAT This species can fly at speeds of up to 60 miles per hour. It is the official state bat (who knew?) of both Oklahoma and Texas. The Bracken Cave in San Antonio is a famous bat-watching location, where nearly 20 million bats call home. |
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| PALLID BAT Pallid bats are immune to the stings of the scorpions that are part of their diet. They have larger eyes than most bats and are skilled and climbing and crawling. |
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| MEXICAN FUNNEL-EARED BAT Eating a diet of insects only, this bat breeds only once a year and the male has nothing to do with the raising of the young. Even bats can be dead-beat dads! |
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| STRAW-COLORED FRUIT BAT An extremely social bat, they live in colonies of up to a million or more. Generally they roost in tall trees but have been known to inhabit caves. |
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| SUCKER-FOOTED BAT From Madagascar, the Sucker-footed bat was just recently discovered in 2006. He gets his name for the little suction cup-like feet that he uses to grab hold of things. |
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| TOWNSEND'S BIG-EARED BAT When roosting, these bats curl their ears up like ram's horns. I need to get me a few of these guys for my backyard - their favorite meals are moths, beetles, flies, and wasps. |
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| YELLOW-WINGED BAT Yellow-winged bats are monogamous and always roost together at night. How terribly romantic! |
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| ALCATHOE'S BAT A native of Europe, the Alcathoe's bat is no bigger than a thumbprint. One could be hiding right under your thumb and you wouldn't know it! |
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| COMMON VAMPIRE BAT Contrary to popular belief, vampire bats do not kill their prey and are actually quite misunderstood. For instance, vampire bats will adopt and care for orphaned bats. See? Not the blood-sucking fiends you thought... |
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| BECHSTEIN BAT The rare Bechstein bat has been known to live over twenty years. One of their favorite delicacies is spiders! Score! |
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| YODA BAT Discovered in Papua New Guinea, the Yoda bat gets his name honestly. Unattractive fellow, he is quite. |
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| GIANT VAMPIRE BATS Vampire bat saliva is being used as an anticoagulant to treat human heart patients and stroke victims. These beauties have impressive wingspans of nearly six feet!! www.batcon.org |
Okay. You got me. I hate bats. They are natures mistakes, like rats and Delaware. I would love to exterminate all of them, quite honestly. What a way to start my morning. Thanks. Appreciate it. I can't even get my writing done now. Hope you are proud. I need a shower.
ReplyDeleteMost of these bats remind me of my step father's Pomeranian... God, I hated that dog. Scariest post yet, CH.
ReplyDeletelol
Just a little bit of misinformation you put there. Although bats rarely carry rabies, there are around 3% or 4% which do.
ReplyDeleteBats should never be handled without gloves, their droppings spread all kinds of diseases, and if they get into your house (in America), they have to taken out by animal control (unless you just use a paper cup and don't tell anyone). This is why all pets need to have rabies vaccinations (but not every year which is excessive and can cause cancer no matter what the law says).
In Britain, it's against the law to remove bats from your house at all so if you get them, you are stuck with them.
Bats will bite but unless they are diseased it won't really harm you. They are extremely easy to damage so they shouldn't be handled if at all possible.
I've had some experience with the little buggers and they are scary when they get in the house and start flying round in circles. The best way to deal with them is to open a window and turn the lights on. They either go out on their own or go to sleep, and then it's easy to cup them and put them out for the stray cats to eat. :)
Doug: Sorry, didn't mean to freak you out. But I love bats. Don't care for them in my house, but other than that... And since you probably didn't read any of the post due to your fear, you probably missed that bats can eat thousands of mosquitoes and other crappy insects in one evening. That's enough for me to welcome them.
ReplyDeleteVanessa: Sorry I scared you. But then again, the site is Fascination with FEAR. My job here is done :)
Dr. Blood: 3-4 % of bats would mean it is still pretty rare, considering the millions and millions of bats in the world. I just meant most people think all bats are rabies-laden nuisances. I just begged to differ. And I am in total agreement with your other comments - like I said, bats are very misunderstood.
That's one CRAZY law in Britain about not being allowed to remove bats from your home. I mean, it's probably harmful for the bats to be inside too. Here in western PA, I've had many bats over the years make their way inside my home, and we always try to carefully remove them. There's no way I want them inside, just as I don't want a bird inside. I was scared to death as a kid when one got in my bedroom one night and just kept flying in circles over my head, like you said.
Generally, the open the window and turn on the light move does the trick.
Thanks for reading & commenting!