8/5/2021 10 Fun Bat Facts | The Nature Conservancy

STORIES IN ARIZONA

Amazing Facts About Bats

How much do you know about the world's only flying mammal? Test your
knowledge with these 10 bat facts.

August 12, 2019

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There are 1,100 species of bats worldwide, with 40 species in the United States alone.
Though small in physical size, bats have a large footprint, making up one-quarter of the
world's mammals.

Learn more about one of the natural world’s unsung heroes:

1. Bats can live more than 30 years and can fly at

speeds of 60 miles per hour (or more!). 
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In fact, a 2016 paper published by University of Tennessee researchers found that the

Mexican free-tailed bat could reach speeds up to 100 mph, making it by far the fastest
mammal on Earth.

2. Bats can find their food in total darkness. 

Not all bats are nocturnal (meaning they're awake at night). But those that are can locate
insects to eat by emitting inaudible high-pitched sounds, 10-20 beeps per second and
listening to echoes. This is called echolocation.

RAFINESQUE'S BIG-EARED BAT

Some bats can find their food in total darkness. They do this using echolocation, which
is emitting a high-frequency sound and listening to the echo.
© John C. Abbott

3. Bats can eat up to 1,200 mosquitoes an hour. 

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Often, bats consume their body weight in insects every night, helping keep bug populations
in check.

Tell Congress: Save Bat Habitats

HELP SAVE BATS

4. More than half of the bat species in the United

States are in severe decline or listed as endangered. 
In addition to loss of habitat, one of the most dire threat comes from white nose syndrome,
a disease that has decimated bats in the U.S. and Canada. The Nature Conservancy
collaborated on a white nose syndrome breakthrough in 2015. Bats were treated with a
common bacterium that seems to stop the growth of the white nose fungus, and were then
successfully released back into the wild.

Help Save Bats

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HELP SAVE BATS

The Nature Conservancy is working to fight white nose syndrome, a disease that devastates bat
populations in the United States and Canada.

5. Some bats hibernate in caves through the cold

winter months.
Bats can also survive freezing temperatures, even after being encased in ice.

6. Baby bats are called pups! Most bats have only one
pup a year.
Bat mothers can find their babies among thousands or millions of other bats by their
unique voices and scents. Having only one pup a year makes bats extremely vulnerable to
extinction.

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PALLID BAT
The pallid bat feeds on ground-dwelling pray such as scorpions and centipedes.
© The Nature
Conservancy

7. Bat droppings, called guano, are one of the richest

fertilizers. 
Bat guano was once a big business. Guano was Texas's largest mineral export before oil!
Austin is a seasonal home to North America’s largest urban population of Mexican free-
tailed bats, which live beneath the Congress Avenue Bridge. Approximately 1.5 million bats
reside there!

8. The world’s largest bat is the "flying fox", which

lives on islands in the South Pacific.
The flying fox bat has a wingspan of up to 6 feet. In contrast, the world’s smallest bat is the
bumble bee bat of Thailand, which is smaller than a thumbnail and weighs less than a
penny.

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FLYING FOXES
The world’s largest bat is the "flying fox" that lives on islands in the South Pacific.
© John Skewes/Flickr
Creative Commons

9. Pallid bats eat scorpions! 

Pallid bats appear to be immune to scorpion stings, even from the most venomous scorpion
in North America, the Arizona bark scorpion. Up to 70% of a pallid bat’s diet can be
scorpions at certain times of the year.

10. The Bracken Bat Cave in Texas is home to the

world’s largest bat colony.
Millions of Mexican free-tailed bats roost in the Bracken Cave each year between March
and October. Learn more about The Nature Conservancy's efforts to secure 1,521-acres to
protect this vital species.

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Bracken Bat Cave Emergence

BRACKEN BAT CAVE

Watch Mexican free-tailed bats emerge from the Bracken Bat Cave in Texas.

Test Your Bat Knowledge

Think you know bats? Text BATCAVE to 97779 to take our quiz!

MORE ABOUT BATS

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Help Save Bats

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