JumpStart - Life Science

Test Your Batting Average*
What do you know about bats?

Bats are shy creatures and want to avoid you as much as you might want to avoid them.

Did you know?

- Bats are the only mammals that can fly.
- Bats are NOT flying mice. Bats belong to a separate order of mammals called Chiroptera.
- Bats come in all different colors, shapes and varieties. Some are red, have huge ears, or have very unusual faces. Many of these attributes are related to their navigational system.
- One quarter of all mammal species are bats. Worldwide there are almost a thousand species of bats! In the US alone there are 39 species of bats.
- In some parts of the world, bats take the place of bees in pollinating plants.
- Little brown bats have life spans that may exceed 32 years.
- A bat will eat half it weight in insects in a single night.

How do bats fly at night without crashing into things?

- In the 1930s scientists discovered that bats use a kind of natural sonar that allows them to "see" with their ears. This amazing system is called echolocation.
- Most sounds that a bat uses can not be heard by humans.
- A bat knows where an insect is because the sounds bounce off of it and return to the bat's ears. A bat can hear the footsteps of a walking insect!
- Most bats send signals through their mouths, others use their noses.
- Not all bats use echolocation. Fruit bats use sight and smell to locate their food. All bats can see.
- Bats can use echolocation even when there are distracting noises. Hundreds of bats can fly out of a cave within range of one another's sound.

The Chinese view bats as symbols of good luck and happiness. They symbolize health, long life, prosperity, love of virtue and natural death.

Bat Benefits - A colony of big brown bats can eat 18 million cucumber beetles. - Plants such as bananas, mangoes, cashews, dates and figs rely on bats for pollination and seed dispersal. - Tequila is produced from agave plants. Seed production drops to 1/3000 of normal without bat pollinators. - Nectar-feeding bats are primary pollinators of giant cacti such as the organ pipe and saguaro. - Bat droppings (guano) support entire ecosystems of unique organisms, including bacteria useful in detoxifying wastes, improving detergents and producing gasohol and antibiotics.
	Ozark big-eared bats (Corynorhinus (=Plecotus) townsendii ingens ) USFWS photo
Bats are in serious decline nearly everywhere. - Forty percent of the bats in the US and Canada are endangered or candidates for such status. Even small disturbances in their habitat can seriously threaten their survival. - Loss of plant and animal diversity may be the most serious long-term global problem we face. - The relationships between insects, their predators, and the plants they pollinate is tenuous. - Disturbances with one species can seriously change the balance in entire systems of plants and animal life.

A Bat House

What is a bat house?

A home for bats.

Why have a bat house?

Bats are gentle, intelligent creatures. They pollinate plants and, more importantly, eat insects. A little brown bat may eat 600 mosquitoes in an hour. They won't poison the environment and they are cheaper than bug lights.

Where should I put a bat house?

Bats like warm places to roost. So put it in a warm, sunny spot, out of the wind. The best place is on the side of a building about 10 to 15 feet above the ground. Most bats need to live near water, preferably within a few hundred yards of a stream or lake.


For more information about bats, their conservation or building a bat house visit Bat Conservation International.

Rabies

All 39 resident species of bats in the US are capable of being infected with rabies, but the incidence of rabies is the same as in other mammals. Only 10 people have contracted rabies from bats in more than 30 years. When a bat contracts rabies, it becomes lethargic and dies. This is unlike the aggressive behavior of some other mammals. That is - if you see a sick bat or other animal - leave it alone. In fact, it is best to leave all wild creatures alone. Enjoy them by observing them, not by interacting with them.

Left alone, bats pose no threat to humans.