Bat Facts
- Nearly 1,000 kinds of bats account for almost a quarter of the world's mammal
species.
- Bats are an important predator of night-flying insects. They consume mosquitos,
beetles, moths, grasshoppers, locusts, and other insects.
- A single little brown bat can catch up to 1,200 mosquito-sized insects in
one hour.
- As well as having eyes for seeing, bats use echolocation to see with sound.
They use echolocation to locate prey, to avoid barriers and even to return
to their roosts in the dark.
- Bats' slow reproduction rate makes them exceptionally vulnerable to extinction;
most species of female bats give birth to only one young each year.
- More than 50% of American bat species are in severe decline or already listed
as endangered.
- Loss of bats increases demand for chemical pesticides, can jeopardize whole
ecosystems of other animal and plant species, and can harm human economies.
- A colony of 150 big brown bats has been known to protect local farmers from
up to 33 million or more rootworms each summer.
- Bat droppings in caves support whole ecosystems of unique organisms, including
bacteria useful in detoxifying waters, improving detergents, and producing
gasohol and antibiotics.