The Birds & the Bats

An interesting fact that many may not know is that bats are not birds! Bats and birds both can fly, yet they belong to different animal classes; birds are in a class called Aves while bats are in the class Mammalia. Bats are mammals, just like humans, which means that all bats are warm-blooded, have hair, bear live young, and feed their babies milk.

Most people think bats are some kind of flying mouse, or related somehow to rodents. Rodents will give birth to many many litters and increase their family tree by the hundreds in the span of a year. Bats on the other hand have more in common with humans as most bat species will give birth to only one baby each year! Few species will give birth to twins or triplets each year but that still pales in comparison to the multiplication power of rodents!

You will hear me talk about the importance bats play in our ecosystem and just how tragic it is that more than half of North America's 45 species are listed as endangered or close to being endangered!

Bats play a key roll in maintaining the diversity of life on earth. To give you a specific example, the Mexican Free-tailed bats from just three caves near San Antonio, Texas, consume a million pounds of insects on average nightly over local towns and farms. Two thirds of Mexico's tequila production can be attributed to the pollination of the giant cacti and agave from which tequila is made. without bats whole agricultural industries would be in jeopardy!

In fact bats play an essential role as the primary pollinators and seed dispersers, around the world, for countless trees and shrubs that are of great economic value. Bananas, dates, figs, avocados, even the endangered saguaro cactus, are dependent upon bats for pollination because they bloom at night.

Bat-dependent products:

bananas breadfruit avocados dates figs

mangoes cloves allspice nutmeg cashew nuts

cashew fruits guava chewing gum naseberry

kapok for stuffing life preservers rope tequila

balsa wood for carving and for making model airplanes

important new heart medicines

Bats are also responsible for 95% of the reforestation of the tropical rain forests through their dispersal of seeds. However, the talent that they are most known for is their enormous capacity for consuming insects! A nocturnal mammal, the bat eats when the insects are out, in contrast to birds, which eat during the day. Some bat species consume half their weight in bugs in a single night!

Birds and bats do not compete for food or space, so your bat house is compatible with your bird houses and bird feeders, should you have any. I would however warn you to keep your dogs and cats away from the bat house while you are working on attracting occupants.

Bats my not be related to birds but they do share the same predators! Outdoor cats, snakes and raccoons will pray on bats. There are snakes that learn to climb trees or buildings in order to get into a bat house or roosting site! This is why I believe mounting your bat house on a pole to be the safest option.

In later blogs I will go into greater detail about the optimal strategies for mounting your bat houses so stay tuned!

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