20 Amazing Facts About Bats You Didn’t Know

In this series of articles/videos we cover the wonderful world of bats, their ecology, and their conservation. Episode 1 is a teaser covering some fun facts about bats which you may or may not have known.

Bat Fun Facts

1. Bats are the only mammals that can truly fly. They are in the order of animals called Chiroptera, which means ‘hand-wing’ in Ancient Greek.
2. They are a diverse order of animals. There are over 1400 known species of bats on the planet.
3. Bats make up almost one quarter of all the mammal species in the UK. There are 18 known bat species here, 17 of which are known to breed in the British Isles. 
4. People incorrectly associate bats with flying rodents, but from an evolutionary standpoint, they are more closely related to humans than rodents.
5. People historically associate bats as blood drinkers after they were immortalized in vampire movies. There are indeed 3 species of vampire bat that feed on the blood of mammals, but most of the bat species eat insects.
6. Bats have long digits similar to human fingers. The bones are ultra-flexible due to a high collagen concentration, and the digits are covered in a membrane. These features enable them to fly.  
7. Bats are masters of aerobatics and even more agile in flight than most birds.
8. Contrary to popular belief, bats are not blind. Not all bats see in the same way, but all bats can see.
9. Bats have specialized hearing and use sonar to navigate in the dark by emitting high-frequency sounds and then using the time it takes for sound to echo back to judge the distance between them and objects around them. 
10. Female bats give birth to live young and produce milk to feed them.
11. Some people blamed bats for the COVID pandemic, however, this was nothing more than misinformation, as the bats in question lacked the genome in their DNA that would enable the virus to transfer between bats and humans.
12. Bats have incredible immune systems. They need a good immune system to keep up with their high-energy lifestyle. Weight for weight, they have one of the best immune systems of all mammals, enabling them to live on average for 30 years in the wild.
13. People are scared of bats as they think they carry the rabies virus. It is certainly true that they can carry this communicable disease, but they are more susceptible to catching diseases from humans than we are from them.
14. How bats evolved to fly remains a mystery to scientists, as there are massive gaps in the fossil records supporting how their digits developed into wings.
15. Bats are good for the environment as they control insect populations. For instance, a single tiny pipistrelle bat (Pipistrellus pipistrellus) can consume up to 3000 insects in a single night. Also, about 80 human developed medicines come from plants that rely on bats for their life-cycle. Fruit eating bats also support the distribution of seed.
16. Bats are protected in the UK by law. It is illegal to kill or injure bats or disturb their roosts, breeding sites or resting places. The protection of bats helps to conserve their habitats.
17. The Bumblebee Bat (Craseonycteris thonglongyai) is the worlds smallest mammal, measuring between 29 and 33 millimeters in length and weighing only 2 grams.
18. The Flying Fox is the largest bat in the world with a wingspan of over 1.8 meters and weighing up to 1.4 kilograms.
19. As mammals, all bats have fur, with the exception of their wings which is a leathery membrane.
20. Bats prefer warmer climates, and can be found in a range of habitats including desert, woodland, and suburban environments.