Bats

Healthy Garden Food

Bats

To the RESCUE!

Pest Control...

Pollination...Seed Dispersal

at YOUR Service

PEST CONTROL

Millions of Mexican free-tailed bats in the Bracken Caves

of San Antonio, Texas feast on the corn earworm moth

(aka cotton bollworm, tomato fruitworm, etc.), a pest

to a host of commercial agricultural crops from artichokes

to watermelons. These bats are so effective that they save farmers in Texas up to $1.7 million a year in pesticide costs. That means fewer pesticides enter the ecosystem!

POLLINATION

Bats Work the Night Shift! Almost a third of the world's bats feed on the fruit or nectar of plants. These nocturnal flying mammals are attracted to flowers that are white or pale in color, large in size and have a strong fruit-like fragrance. Bats drink the sweet nectar inside flowers, picking up a dusting of pollen and move it along to other flowers as they feed. Most flowering plants cannot produce seeds and fruit without pollination. In North American deserts, giant cacti and agave depend on bats for pollination.

A bird's wing is fixed, but a bat can scoop things up with its wing, cradle a new baby in the bottom of its wing or wrap a wing around itself like a blanket.

Some bats bring their insect pray back to a night roosting spot, where they eat them while hanging!

Click Here to download

a BAT MASK!

SEED DISPERSAL

Each year, vast expanses of the world’s rainforests are cleared for logging, agriculture, and ranching. Fruit-eating bats are key players in restoring those vital forests. Bats, unlike birds, are unwary of crossing these large open spaces and cover large distances each night. They’re so effective at dispersing seeds through bat droppings that they've been called the "farmers of the tropics." Seeds dropped by bats can account for up to 95 percent of the first new growth.

Quick Bat Facts

Bats are loyal to their birthplaces and hibernation sites. How they find their way between summer and hibernating caves is a still a mystery.
For their size, bats are one of the slowest reproducing mammals with an average of just one young born each year.
A number of species of bats live 15-20 years. One bat was recorded to have survived in the wild for 41 years!
Bats are born weighing about one third the weight of their mother, and are furless.
They grow to full size and can fly within 3 weeks and become independent at about 6-10 weeks.
Their wingspan ranges from 5 inches to about 5 feet, depending on the species.
Bats can fly 40 mph and up to 80 mph, when diving in flight.
Bats are not blind and many have excellent vision. Most use echolocation, a unique sonar system to detect obstacles, avoid collisions, and hunt at night.