Background Information on Bats ¹

Misunderstandings and cultural beliefs contribute to persecution and habitat destruction ²

• Only 1% of bats carry rabies and there are only 1-2 cases per year in the US of rabies being spread through bats. In fact, you are more likely to have leprosy in the US, than rabies spread through a bat.


• Contrary to popular belief, bats are not blind. They possess the ability to see and, in fact, have decent eyesight. Specifically, the larger fruit-eating bat species have vision that surpasses human eyesight by threefold. Additionally, many bat species utilize echolocation to navigate and hunt in dim lighting, such as during twilight hours. This echolocation allows them to detect and avoid obstacles, as well as locate prey. While bats may investigate new objects in their environment out of curiosity, the myth that they'll deliberately fly into human hair is unfounded.


• Bats makeup 20% of all mammal species and there are 1,400 recognized bat species in the world. (Chiroptera, the red section, is the family that bats belong to)







• Bats are the only mammals capable of true flight.


• They have fur, give birth to live young, produce milk, and even have belly buttons.


• Their wings resemble webbed hands, with extremely elongated fingers, aiding in flight.


• Coat color varies and can change with age or environmental conditions, challenging earlier classification methods, as they used to be classified by color.


• Bats generally reproduce slowly, usually having one pup per year, making them vulnerable to extinction.


• They can live for over 40 years, making them the longest-lived mammals relative to their size.


• Bats form large social aggregations, second in size only to humans among mammals.







• Their long lifespans necessitate complex social structures and intelligence.


• Evidence suggests bats form long-term friendships and have sophisticated social interactions.


• They communicate across a broad range of frequencies, far beyond human capability.


• Bats play key roles in ecosystems, such as pest control and pollination.





• They demonstrate exceptional navigational skills and can adapt their foraging based on environmental cues.


• Some bats can fly at high altitudes and use tailwinds to travel at speeds close to 100 miles per hour.


• Their behavior and migration patterns are influenced by weather conditions, indicating advanced environmental awareness.