Bat Myths & Facts

MYTH: Bats are flying rodents. Bats are not rodents, as some people believe them to be. Instead, they belong to a group of mammals called chiroptera, meaning "hand-wing", and fly with a modified hand. They are the only mammals that really fly.

MYTH: Bats are dirty blood suckers. Actually, bats groom themselves frequently, much as cats do. Of the 950 species of bats, only three eat blood and very rarely is it human blood. They do not have a particularly high incidence of rabies nor do they have any particular interest in human hair. However, most people do not welcome bats in their home. We will show you how to safely evict bats from your home.

MYTH: Bats are blind. Some bats rely on vision to navigate and find food, while others rely on echolocation. Bats are divided into two main groups, the mega-chiroptera and the micro-chiropetra. The mega-bats, about 150 species, are called fruit bats because many of them eat fruit, nectar, and pollen. They have big eyes for navigation and food location. They are sometimes called "flying foxes" because have a face that looks somewhat like a fox.
The micro-bats, about 800 species, are the insect-eating bats. They navigate and hunt by a system called echolocation. Bats emit sound waves that are not generally audible to the human ear. These waves bounce off of objects and come back to the bat (echo), allowing it fly about safety and to catch insects and other prey.

FACT: Bats are mammals. There are about 950 different kinds, about one-fifth of the world's mammal species. They nurse their young on milk as all mammals do.

FACT: Wisconsin has seven species of bats. There are about 40 species of bats in the United Sates. Most are insect eaters. Wisconsin's seven species are all insect eaters in the family Vespertilionidae or plain-nosed bats. One other species that may occur in Wisconsin, but has not been recorded here for many years, is the Indiana bat (Myotis sodalis) which is listed as federally endangered. This species is sometimes difficult to tell from other Myotis bats.

FACT: Bats are in Trouble. Bats have several characteristics that make them vulnerable to disturbance. The industrial countries of the world have seen steady and sometimes drastic declines in bat populations over the last 15 to 20 years. Learn more about the decline of bats and what you can do to prevent it.