Bats, Fact or fiction?

Even though peoples attitudes to bats are changing, there are still those who are uncertain what to believe.

You can help bats by explaining the facts about them to other people

Bat facts....

• Bats are not blind

• They can also "see" in the dark by listening to the echoes of their high frequency calls

• With this sophisticated sonar system, called "echolocation" they can pick up insects as tiny as mosquitoes

• They also have good steering - they won't get caught in your hair!

• Bats' wings are giant hands, with skin stretching between elongated fingers

• Bats do not build nests; they hang up or creep into cracks and crannies

• Bats rarely live in belfries. They prefer somewhere quiet, not draughty, and free from cobwebs

• Bats need a wide choice of roost sites as requirements change with the season

• Bats often choose modern houses as roost sites - about half of all known pipistrelle bat roosts known in the 1980s were in houses less than 25 years old

• In winter, when insects are scarce, bats hibernate in cool parts of buildings, caves and hollow trees

• In Britain it is illegal to disturb bats or the places where they roost

• Bats can live for up to 30 years

• Of about 4,500 different species of mammal in the world, nearly 1,000 are bats

• Three-quarters of these eat insects just as British bats do. In the tropics bats also eat many other foods - fruit, flowers, frogs, fish, blood, even bats!

• Bats are vital to rainforests, as many trees need bats for pollination and seed dispersal

• Valuable foods and derivatives from bat-adapted plants include dates, vanilla, bananas, breadfruit, guavas, kapok, Iroko timber, balsa wood, sisal - even Tequila and chewing gum!

• Bat populations are threatened not only by loss of habitat, affecting roosting sites and feeding grounds, but also by deliberate killing and over-exploitation for food

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