Bats:
Wonderful winged friends

I enjoy seeing bats. In fact, watching bats fly overhead as we go out on a night hike at one of our state parks, reservoirs or forests is one of my favorite activities.Why do bats fly about at night? Simple. For a tasty meal of night-flying insects, like mosquitoes.Unfortunately, bats have been used as symbol of evil for centuries in ghost stories, horror movies and of course, Halloween. Because of that, this small flying mammal is misunderstood. Myths have been told about bats for generations. Myths are things people believe, but are not true.

Most people know bats are not likely to get tangled in their hair. But many used to believe that’s what bats did. The reason they don’t is that bats have an extremely good sense of where they are flying. They don’t want to get tangled in your hair any more than you want that to happen.

Here are some other bat myths:

Bats will bite your neck and suck out your blood.

Only one species out of the almost 950 in the world drinks blood. That’s the vampire bat that lives in Central and South America. Vampire bats prefer the blood of cattle and birds, not human blood. Only 12 species of bats are found in Indiana. None are vampire bats.

Bats are blind.

Bats can see in light, but they do not have keen night vision. They use echolocation, which is a technique by which they emit sounds from their nose or mouth to locate insects or to “see” in the dark. The echo sound goes out and returns to the bats if anything is in front of them, even a tiny insect. Echolocation is similar to how submarines travel and “see” underwater. They send out a sound that is returned if anything is in front of it. Actually, submarines are able to travel in the dark depths of water because of what humans have learned from studies done on bats’ echolocation.

Bats are dirty flying mice.

Bats are not mice. They are not even in the rodent family. All rodents—beaver, mice, rabbits, for example—have two top front teeth and two bottom teeth that never stop growing. The teeth have a special strong yellow enamel that makes their teeth tough enough to chew on harder objects like wood or carrots. Bats do not have teeth like this. Just like humans, bats get one set of baby teeth and one set of adult teeth. As they get older bats’ teeth wear down. Bat rehabilitators are able to get an idea of how old a bat is by looking at its teeth.

Bats are very clean animals. If a bat is dirty, then it is probably injured and unable to properly care for itself. Remember, never pick up a bat you find lying on the ground. It may be sick. Always let an adult know if you find a sick bat. They will call the agency in your area for assistance.

Bats, like any mammal, can get and carry rabies. Do not approach any mammal that is acting strangely.

Bats are wild animals. They will become frightened if you try to catch or pick them up. Just as any other wild animals, they may bite you in self-defense.

Many more myths have given bats their horrible reputation, which has caused people to fear them. By learning more about this beautiful flying mammal, you can help others not to be scared of an animal that is important to our environment.