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Bats |
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| Worldwide there are nearly a thousand different species of bat, which is nearly a quarter of the different sorts of mammal in the world. Bats are typical mammals as they have fur and give birth to live babies that they feed on milk, yet they are unique in being the only mammals that truly fly. |  |
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| The whole group or order of bats is called chiroptera, based on the Greek words meaning hand-wing. Throughout the world they eat a whole range of foods, but most, including all our British bats, eat insects. Although occasionally seen during the day, bats are normally nocturnal. Despite the myths you may have heard, bats are not blind, but they depend more on their sense of hearing than on sight. They use a system of echolocation, 'seeing with their ears'. They are the only animals that can hunt flying prey in total darkness, so have the advantage over other nocturnal creatures. | ||
| Flight uses a huge amount of energy. That means that bats need lots of food as fuel. The most energy- expensive time of all is when the females are pregnant or lactating so are 'eating for two'. They need to find places where insects are plentiful, so that's where you will need to go too if you want to go bat-watching in summer. You may be lucky enough to see bats feeding in your own garden, or around the streetlights. Lakes and rivers and the edge of woodland are all good places. Try to go with an experienced bat-watcher - they may have a bat detector that will enable you to 'hear' the bat's sonar as they feed. Sometimes you can hear bats all around you yet hardly catch a glimpse of one - and no - they won't get caught in your hair! That's the last thing any self-respecting bat would want to do! |  |
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| In Britain, insects are few and far between during the winter, and even in summer bad weather can mean food is hard to find. A bat's strategy for survival is to make the most of every mouthful - they can teach us a lot about energy conservation. They make no nests, but use a whole range of roost sites throughout the year, depending on the weather. Generally speaking they choose somewhere warm in summer to raise their young, and somewhere cool in winter to hibernate. In between they may use many other places. | ||
| Bats have a hard time. They need lots of food, a choice of places to roost, and safe commuting routes between roosts and feeding sites, like hedges and tree lines. If just one or two pieces are missing from the jigsaw of their needs, bat numbers can crash. Concern about the decline in bat numbers has led to legal protection of all British bats and the places where they roost. There is now a growing bat conservation movement, and gradually myths and misunderstandings are being replaced by respect for these fascinating mammals. |  |
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| However, the more we learn about bats, the more we realise just how complicated their lives are and how little we understand them. To conserve them, we must find out more about their needs. New and more sophisticated tools are used for research, not only by scientists but also by amateur bat workers. For example, in the last few years it has been recognised that the common pipistrelle is not one, but two species. This is why finding out about bats is so exciting - YOU might be the one to discover something completely new. | ||
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Acknowledgements. Bat web-site text
by Shirley Thompson, The
Bat Conservation Trust,
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