All About Bats
Bat Basics: General Information
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Bats are MAMMALS. They have fur, they give birth to live young called "pups", and they nurse the pups on milk until they are mature enough to feed on their own.
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Bats are the only mammal that can fly. Their wings are made of bones and skin, not feathers, and organization of the wing bones is actually very similar to human hands (USDOI, 2017). Click here to learn more about bat anatomy and see some examples of these physical features. Some species can fly quite fast, too! The Brazilian free-tailed bat has been recorded flying at over 160 kilometres per hour, which is over 100mph; making it one of the fastest flying animals on earth (McCraken et al, 2016)!
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Bats are NOCTURNAL, this means that they are mostly active during the night time.
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Many bats species live in large colonies, but quite a few species are relatively solitary. Indian Flying Foxes in South Asia, for example, live in colonies numbering up to the thousands (Molur, 2008), while in the United States, Hoary bats live most of their lives on their own (Bat Conservation International, 2017).
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Some bat species use echolocation, where they produce sound waves that help them navigate and hunt in the darkness (Hagen, 2009). Click here to learn more about bat echolocation and hear sound clips of real bats!
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Bats can live LONG LIVES. Bats can actually live quite long lives, which is especially unique to find in small mammals. Many bats from various species have been recorded living past 20 years, with the oldest wild bat on record at 41 years (Locke, 2006).
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BREEDING: There are male and female bats, and they breed to produce pups. When it comes to bat species of NY, they "breed primarily in mid-to-late fall. However, females will store sperm from mating season until spring before fertilizing their eggs. Depending on the species, gestation can take between 40 and 60 days. Young bats are born in June and early July, and can usually fly and hunt within a month of being born" (WildlifeNYC, 2020).
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A bat using echolocation.
Image credit: Elizabeth Hagen
A fruit bat in flight with pup
Image credit: Doug Gimsey
Why are bats important, and what do they eat?
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Though they have an association with Dracula and vampires, very few species actually rely on drinking blood at all. What is true is that across the globe, bats are critical members of ecosystems. Read below and click on Merlin Tuttle's video "The Worldwide Importance of Bats" (Chenger, 2019) to discover why.
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Some bat species CONTROL INSECT POPULATIONS: Insectivorous bat species across the world play critical roles as predators. Estimates state that one Little Brown Bat (Myotis lucifugus, a common NY bats species) can consume as many as 500 insects per hour, or roughly 3,000 insects nightly; and accordingly a colony of 100 little brown bats can consume over a quarter of a million mosquitoes and other small insects per night (Brittingham, 2019)!
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Some bats are excellent POLLINATORS: Did you know that many bat species actually eat fruit or flower nectar? Indian Flying Foxes, for example, feed on fruits and flowers across South and Southeast Asia (Molur, 2008). In fact, fruit bat species contribute to pollination of over 200 species of plants, and many of these plants in turn have over 400 substantial economic uses in industry and medicine (Fujita, 1991). ​
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Animals like hawks, owls, and snakes often eat bats as part of their diets (USDOI, 2017). This might not be a bat's favorite role, but it's yet another important way that bats stabilize ecosystems.
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Bat feces is valuable both economically and environmentally! Bat droppings, better known as guano, are a source of nutrients for many cave dwelling species, and can be used by humans as fertilizer (Keleher, 1996). Guano has been used and sold by people for fertilizer for hundreds of years, click here to see a guano add from 1884. Guano harvesting in one protected cave in Thailand yields over $130,000 annual profit, which is a great example of how humans and bats can live symbiotically (Chenger, 2019).
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Image Credit: Yushi Osawa
Image Credit: Fotomedia
Image Credit: Jude Hirstwood
Bat Diversity
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Believe it or not, there are nearly 1,400 species of bats in the world (USDOI, 2017).
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Bats range in size from TINY to VERY LARGE. The smallest bat species is the bumblebee Bat, or Kitti's hog-nosed bat, which weighs less than a penny; and the largest are golden flying foxes, which can have a wingspan of up to 6 feet (USDOI, 2017)!
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While it's easy to picture the standard Halloween image of a small black bat with generic features, bats really have an incredible variety of unique features ranging from the adorable to the downright strange. Different species have different colors, wing shapes, ears, noses, and more! Click here to learn more about bat anatomy and see some examples of these physical features.
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Click here or on the bat collage to see some of the amazing bat faces of the world !​
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Taxonomically, bats belong to the Chiroptera order, and are categorized into two suborders: Megachiroptera (megabats) and Microchiroptera (microbats); the two categories or suborders are based on the size and other unique characteristics of the bats (Misachi, 2018). ​​​​
Ready to install a bat box!
Image credit:Wendy Bosco
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​​​Details about New York bats:
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According to Eileen Stegemann and Al Hicks of the New York Department of Environmental Conservation (n.d.), there are nine bat species in New York, alphabetically, they are:
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Big brown bats
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Eastern pipistrelles (also called tri-colored bats)
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Hoary bats (the largest bat species in NY)
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Indiana bats (they're endangered)
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Little brown bats (the most common bats in NY)
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Northern bats
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Red bats
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Silver-haired bats
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Small-footed bats (the smallest bats in NY)
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Click here for photos and details about each of New York's bat species!
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All nine of the bat species in New York are insectivores, with mosquitos as one of their main prey staples (Stegman & Hicks, n.d.). Aside from providing relief to people from biting insects, insectivorous bats stabilize ecosystems by regulating insect populations, and help reduce agriculture losses by preying on some crop pests (Vilas, 2016).
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Most New York bats hibernate. Six of the nine NY bat species hibernate in caves during the winter, while the other three are tree species that typically migrate (WildlifeNYC, 2020). Most cave-dwelling species will actually leave their winter hibernation sites, or hibernacula, and roost in forested areas or structures during the spring and summer (Peeples, 2013; Kerwin, 2017). ​
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Unfortunately bats in New York are facing several threats that may be edging them toward extinction. These threats include bats’ own natural “problems” like group roosting and low fecundity (McCraken, 1989); human pressures like pesticide use and loss of habitat due to land development (Brittingham, 2019; Stegman & Hicks, n.d.; USDA, n.d.); and threats from pathogens like the fungal infection White Nose Syndrome.
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Since 2006, White Nose Syndrome has ravaged bat colonies across the United States with particularly devastating impacts along the east coast (Dobony & Johnson, 2018). Six of the nine bat species native to New York roost in caves, (Stegman & Hicks, n.d.) (see Figure 1), and the close proximity of bats to one another within cave roosting colonies contributes to pathogen spread (McCraken, 1989; Peeples, 2010).
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Legal protection for bats: By 2015 the federal government even listed one NY bat species, the Indiana Bat (Myotis septentrionalis), as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act because of how severely decimated their numbers had been by White Nose Syndrome (Northam, 2015). This was a major step in the right direction, but protecting bats can happen at the local level through the construction of artificial bat roosting sites called bat boxes. Click the "Bat Houses" tab above to find out more about bat boxes!
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Bat boxes in New York: According to Kathleen Kerwin of the Wildlife Conservation and Management Program at Rutgers University, “The two species that most commonly use bat houses in the northeast United States are big brown bats (Eptesicus fuscus) and little brown bats (Myotis lucifugus). During the spring and summer months, females roost together in ‘maternity colonies’ to raise pups. Males may use bat houses to roost individually or in small groups” (2017). ​
Find out more! Click each button below for amazing information on bats!