Have you ever wondered, “Why are bats important? Are bats dangerous?” There’s a lot to know about these mysterious creatures of the night, and after this article, you’ll have plenty of answers and a new appreciation for these incredible flying mammals and pollinators extraordinaire.
People tend to have strong feelings about bats, whether that’s love or hate. Remember the adage that you’re afraid of what you don’t know? In the case of bats, it seems not many people are aware of how bats behave or, honestly, much else about them. These creatures of the night have always carried an air of mystery about them; why else would they move around in the dark? However, after learning more about bats and their unusual ways, many people welcome being neighbors to these misunderstood creatures.
Why Are Bats Important?
Getting to know your bat neighbors will hopefully give you an appreciation of these tiny mammals. There are over 1,400 species worldwide. Most bat species in the continental United States eat insects, but a few eat pollen and nectar. A few species of long-nosed bats, for example, are solely responsible for pollinating agaves that are well-known for producing tequila.
The most commonly encountered bat in the United States is the big brown bat (Eptesicus fuscus). Although it enjoys eating mosquitoes, its favorite treats are flying beetles and other agricultural pests. Insectivorous bats provide free pest control to farmers and backyard barbecues and don’t ask for a dime, but just to be left alone to get their fill of flying insects. The economic savings of this free pest control is estimated to be worth $23 billion per year to U.S. farmers caring for our food supply.
From Gliding to Flying: How Bats Evolved
Bats aren’t rodents that fly. In fact, bats are closer to humans and other primates than any other species. This diverse group of mammals belongs to the order Chiroptera (meaning “hand-wing”) and has been around for at least 50 million years, so bats have had a long time to adapt and evolve.
As it turns out, it was likely the bats’ intelligence that caused them to become voracious nighttime hunters. Bats probably began as terrestrial animals that found competition for food on the ground too difficult, so they moved up into the trees to hunt in a less crowded environment. They also began to hunt at night, since most other terrestrial, insect-eating animals would hunt or forage during the day. The evolution of flight may have started through gliding (similar to the way flying squirrels evolved from simple ambulation to gliding), which later developed into powered flight. Bats are the only flying mammals in the world. An amazing feat in itself!
While birds evolved to have hollow bones to lighten the load for flight, bats evolved with solid bones. Unlike birds, bats have almost no muscle tissue in their legs. Since the weight of muscle made bats too heavy to achieve flight, skinny legs won out! As a result, it can be difficult for a bat on the ground to launch itself into flight, especially for those bats without experience.
An interesting anatomical feature of bats is their ability to rotate their legs 180 degrees. When a bat lands on a surface, its toes face forward to aid in climbing. When the bat reaches its roosting spot, it’ll turn upside down, with its head facing downward and its feet skyward. At this point, its legs are rotated 180 degrees in the hip socket, so its toes now point in the direction of the sky to be able to cling to the surface.
Echo, Echo, Echolocation
Many published pictures of bats show them in mid-flight with wings outstretched and mouths open wide. This is often interpreted as aggressive, because many species will bare their teeth to scare off a human or another animal in their space. This isn’t the case with bats. Their open mouths are a sign of activity! Most North American bats echolocate to find their food and to navigate while flying. While a bat is flying, it’s multitasking: It’s echolocating, catching food, and then eating that food before continuing echolocating to search for its next morsel.
The open mouth of a bat during echolocation allows for the echoes to be directed toward its prey. After bouncing off the target, the echo returns to the bat’s ears and is interpreted by its brain to let the bat know where and how far the object is, including whether the bat has come across an immovable object, such as a tree or building. Bats can determine when a moving object isn’t a desired food, based on size and movement. These echolocations are above the frequency humans can normally hear. Echolocation isn’t specific to bats, though, as other species, such as toothed whales and dolphins, use it to communicate. This is an oversimplification of how echolocation works, but it’s all taking place in nanoseconds as the bat is zigzagging in the night sky.
Now, you might think a bat would be capturing insects with its mouth and teeth, but that’s not usually the case. Instead, the ambidextrous bat not only uses both wings, but also its tail membrane to corral insects out of the air and push them toward its mouth. The tail and tail membrane (called the “uropatagium”) curve toward the front of the bat’s body, so the bat can easily curl each toward its mouth to aid in feeding. If the insect is rather large, the bat may use its tail to push the insect farther into the mouth. Many insectivorous bats can easily eat 3,000 to 4,000 insects per night, with some consuming almost 50% of their body weight.
Tall tales of bats getting entangled in people’s hair perpetuate the misinformation that’s plagued bats for centuries. Bats aren’t interested in people’s hair, but that’s not to say one might not have flown close to a human while trying to snag that annoying mosquito buzzing around. The accuracy bats have in hitting their target is amazing, and they can hit it spot-on within the width of a human hair.
Understanding Rabies Transmission
Quite often, people are concerned about living near bats, since they’ve heard that being in the vicinity of bat droppings can cause someone to contract rabies. In fact, a person can only contract rabies if their broken skin or mucous membranes come into contact with an infected animal’s saliva or tissue from the nervous system (for example, the brain and spinal cord). Droppings from any animal should be treated with caution, but not from the fear of contracting rabies. Abundant droppings from birds, rodents, bats, and other animals, especially when dried, may become aerosolized and inhaled, and can cause illnesses, such as histoplasmosis. When cleaning up any dried animal excrement, wear masks or other respiratory protection to prevent these diseases.
Any mammal can contract rabies and pass it to another mammal. Rabies vector species, such as raccoons, skunks, foxes, and bats, test positive more often for rabies than other mammals. Every state tracks by species how many animals were submitted for testing and how many tested positive. Depending on your state’s location, different species may have a higher positivity rate and thus be considered the reservoir species for that area. For example, in Georgia, the submitted animal that tests positive for rabies most often is the raccoon, but in Minnesota, it’s the skunk; in Ohio, it’s the bat; and outside the United States, it’s the dog.
Safely Removing Bats
Having a bat in your living space can be scary, but following some simple guidelines can help. First, to contain the bat, find a small box and poke a few holes no larger than a pencil for airflow. Put a soft cloth without loops, such as a T-shirt, into the box. There’s no need to drape the cloth so the bat can hang onto it. Never handle a bat without heavy gloves. Put the box over the bat, and slide a magazine or piece of cardboard under the animal from the area around the head and moving toward the tail. Then, carefully scoop up the bat and invert the box. Close the flaps and seal with tape to prevent its escape, and place the box in a cool place to keep the bat calm.
When selecting a cloth, don’t use towels or cloths with loops on them for any rescued animal. These are dangerous for animals who can get nails or teeth caught in them. As the animal moves and twists, a single thread can trap a toe, foot, leg, or even neck.
If you find a hairless bat pup, provide supplemental heat in addition to the previous steps. Hairless bat pups can’t thermoregulate and will succumb to hypothermia otherwise. Hot tap water in a reusable water bottle will suffice for a few hours. Wrap the soft cloth around the warm bottle, and place the pup on it. Close the box and keep in a warm area. Contact a wildlife rehabilitator as soon as possible for further instructions.
Bat Conservation International has detailed advice on handling bats and bat colonies in your living space. You can also contact a wildlife rehabilitator for advice on bat observations and encounters. Most state agencies keep online listings of licensed wildlife rehabilitators.
Won’t You Be Their Neighbor?
Bats around the world are facing extinctions at record numbers from disease, wind turbine collisions, and habitat loss. They play a key role in keeping insect populations in check, but they’re dying at historic levels because of white-nose syndrome (WNS), a disease caused by the Pseudogymnoascus destructans fungus. According to estimates by the U.S. Geological Survey, over 6 million bats have been killed by WNS since the disease was detected in North America in 2006. WNS has been found in 38 states and eight Canadian provinces and it continues to spread, contributing to the possible extinction of several species. It’s considered the worst tragedy to befall bats to date.
Let’s offer them protection in whatever ways we can. The easiest way is to install a bat house. Bat houses are primarily used to provide a safe, warm environment in summer for bats to have their pups. Bats don’t use these houses for hibernation in colder climates, but having bat houses around may help keep them out of your attic. You must place the houses carefully, and you can refer to Bat Conservation International for how to build, place, or purchase a bat house.
A holistic, integrative pest-management program can include inviting bats to become your neighbors. Let’s accept these “hand-wing” creatures of the night as an integral part of our community. We need their help, and they need ours.
Linda E. Bowen has been a licensed wildlife rehabilitator specializing in bats for 20 years in her home state of Connecticut. She’s also licensed to rehabilitate migratory birds. She has published work on bats and a children’s book, Tabitha’s Tale. Visit her website: Bats 101.
Originally published as “Get to Know Your Neighbors, The Bats” in the June/July 2023 issue of MOTHER EARTH NEWS and regularly vetted for accuracy.
