Bats - Order: Chiroptera - Video, Facts

Bats are the only mammals capable of true flight. With extremely elongated fingers and a wing membrane stretched between, the bat’s wing anatomically resembles the human hand,Almost 1,000 bat species can be found worldwide. In fact, bats make up a quarter of all mammal species on earth!

Diet

70% of bats consume insects, sharing a large part of natural pest control. There are also fruit-eating bats; nectar-eating bats; carnivorous bats that prey on small mammals, birds, lizards and frogs; fish-eating bats, and perhaps most famously, the blood-sucking vampire bats of South America.

Population

While some bat populations number in the millions, others are dangerously low or in decline.

Range

Bats can be found almost anywhere in the world except the polar regions and extreme deserts. See a bat distribution map >>

Behavior

Echolocation
Some bats have evolved a highly sophisticated sense of hearing. They emit sounds that bounce off of objects in their path, sending echoes back to the bats. From these echoes, the bats can determine the size of objects, how far away they are, how fast they are traveling and even their texture, all in a split second

Bats find shelter in caves, crevices, tree cavities and buildings. Some species are solitary while others form colonies of more than a million individuals.

Overwintering
To survive the winter some species of bat migrate, others hibernate, and yet others go into torpor (regulated hypothermia that can last from a few hours to a few months).

Reproduction
Gestation: 40 days - 6 months (bigger bats have longer gestation periods)
Litter Size: Mostly one pup
For their size, bats are the slowest reproducing mammals on Earth. At birth, a pup weighs up to 25 percent of its mother’s body weight, which is like a human mother giving birth to a 31 pound baby! Offspring typically are cared for in maternity colonies, where females congregate to bear and raise the young. Male bats do not help to raise the pups.

Threats

The greatest threat to bats is people. Habitat destruction and fear are a lethal combination for bats. In some areas, people have even been known to set fires in caves, killing thousands of roosting bats. Bats are also killed by harmful development projects such as wind turbines that are placed along migratory routes. In addition, an emerging disease called white nose syndrome is killing large numbers of hibernating bats in North America.

Legal Status/Protection

• Endangered Species Act (ESA): Twelve species of bat are listed as endangered, and one as threatened.
• CITES: Some species of bats are protected under Appendix I and some under Appendix II.
• Learn more about legal status and protection of bats >>

Reasons For Hope

Renewable energy, such as wind and solar power, is crucial to the future of our planet. However, ensuring that renewable energy sources, such as wind turbines, cause as little environmental harm as possible is just as important. Wind farms that are made up of hundreds to thousands of turbines present a major threat to bats. For reasons scientist cannot fully explain, bats are often unable to avoid collisions with turbine blades, which kill thousands of bats each year.

Defenders and other conservation organizations are working with federal and state agencies to look for places where wind turbines can be set up in safely by avoiding birds and bats.

How You Can Help

• Visit Defenders' Imperiled Species: Bats section for more information about what Defenders is doing to help.
• Help bats and other wildlife by adopting an animal at our Wildlife Adoption Center.
• Take Action for Wildlife at our Wildlife Action Center.

For additional information

Bat Conservation International