Photos by Stan Tekeila ©2004

Bats

by Stan Tekiela
© 2003 NatureSmart
August 22, 2003

Bats are fascinating animals. For one thing, they are the only flying mammal. There are over 1,000 different kinds of bats in the world. That's an astonishing amount. In fact, bats make up one quarter of all the worlds mammals. Closer to home we have 42 different kinds of bats in North America. Of these, only seven claim the northland as home.

All of the world's bats can be divided into two groups--fruit eating and insect eating. Here in the northland we only have insect eating bats-- for obvious reasons. (We have an abundance of insects and relatively few large fruits.) Not to confuse things, but our seven bats can also be divided into two groups-- tree bats and cave bats.

Tree bats are solitary, unlike the social nature of cave bats. Just as their name implies, tree bats spend their days in the trees. Tree bats also migrate instead of retreating to caves each winter like the cave bats.

The most commonly seen bat in your backyard is the little brown bat. Its name accurately describes this bat. In summer the female come together in small maternal colonies where they will give birth to a single baby called a pup. Females congregate in warm out-of-the-way places like hollow trees, rock crevasses, bat houses or attics of homes while the males hang out by themselves.

Speaking of hanging. Bats don't have a problem hanging. Much like birds, bats have a locking tendon in their feet. When the bat hangs upside down its body weight pulls on the tendon and locks the feet in a gripping position. That's why bats don't fall off the cave wall when they fall asleep.

Contrary to what you might think, bats are not blind. They have very good eyesight, probably as well as yours and mine. But good eyesight doesn't help in complete darkness. To offset this, bats have evolved a unique way to locate their prey in the dark--echo location. It's a process of sending out sound waves and waiting for the "echo" to come back. Based on this return sound the bat can "see" in the dark. The echo locating sound is beyond our hearing so we can't hear this going on.

Bats also don't fly into your hair. Most people who claim to have witnessed this are misinterpreting the bats actions. Flying insects are often attracted to you and buzz around your head. The bats are after the insects and swoop down for an insect dinner. You only see the bat swooping for your head.

There are so many interesting aspects of bats that I could go on and on.