If asked, most people will tell you they don’t like bats. They will tell you that bats carry disease, they are dirty, cause rabies and will fly into your hair at night; bats just get a bad rap.
The misconceptions about bats abound. For instance, bats do not become entangled in human hair, they are not blind, bats see as well as other animals, they use “echolocation” to detect objects in total darkness and they seldom transmit disease to animals or humans. Bats are actually quite harmless and are important indicators of a healthy eco-system.
Bats are actually a blessing. These small mammals are crucial to the pollination of many plants, and fill a key ecological niche by feeding on a wide variety of flying insects.
These farm and crop friendly creatures consume incredible amounts of insects daily. Did you know that a little brown bat, Montana’s most common species, can consume 1,200 nocturnal insects in just an hour?
Montana is within the known range for 15 species of bats. Two of the most common bats found in Montana are the Big Brown Bat and the Hoary Bat. Some species are migratory, flying south for winter warmth while others flock to local mines and caves for the long winter hibernation.
Nocturnal by nature, by day, bats will roost in dark, sheltered places. They actually hang head down, firmly attached by hooking their toes in cracks and crevices. From this upside down position, they drop from the roost by releasing their grasp. The momentum they gain from falling helps them to become airborne. Many bats cannot take off from a flat surface.
Bats are an important agricultural ally in the fight against pests which eat crops and cost landowners billions of dollars in damage each year. The benefit of bats to farmers is quite remarkable.
Bats from three caves located near San Antonio, Texas nightly eat about one million pounds of insects. Texas would be a very “buggy” place without the bats.
In Georgia, a pecan farmer is no longer losing over a third of his crop to hickory shuckworms. He wisely installed a series of bat houses, one of them now hosts a colony of over 2000 worm consuming bats.
With increased cases of West Nile Virus, Montana ranchers are looking for effective ways to prevent the spread of the disease. The West Nile Virus is primarily spread through mosquitoes. Mosquitoes make up a huge portion of a bats diet. A single bat can consume more than 1,200 mosquitoes in a single hour! Bats cannot contract the West Nile Virus by eating infected mosquitoes. Besides mosquitoes, bats can help control the populations of leafhoppers, beetles, fleas and moths. Insects can hear bats up to 100 feet away and will avoid areas occupied by bats. The effectiveness of bats reduces the need for pesticides that can harm both the pests and their natural predators.
Like most wildlife, bats suffer from habitat loss. Destruction of natural roosts by humans is the primary cause. Landowners can help bats by building and putting up bat houses.
One of the most effective and environmentally friendly ways to reduce the insect population near your home is to install a bat house.