With Halloween coming, the Chicks thought it would be interesting to begin dispelling myths about some of the spookier nighttime creatures. We will begin with bats. Vampire bats do not suck blood. Rather, they lick the blood of cows an other small mammals. Vampire bats are actually very small and are no threat to us!

So, here goes. No more fearing them in the dark. They do not get tangled in your hair and will not suck the lifeblood out of you….here are some truths about

 

BATS

  • A single bat can snap up over 600 mosquitoes in one hour, as well as other little pests!
  • Bats are shy, gentle, and intelligent. They are among the slowest reproducing animals on earth.
  • Most bat species have only one live young per year. A mother bat nurses her baby from a pair of pectoral breasts.
  • The average life-span of a bat is 25 to 40 years.
  • Bat populations in rapid decline, and White Nose Syndrome is threatening them even further. Half the bats in the US are listed as rare, threatened or endangered.
  • While both bats and mice are mammals, bats are not rodents and are more closely related to primates and people.
  • Bats live a very long time.  Most bats live between 10 and 20 years.  Some bats typically live to 30 years old.  The oldest known bat was recently recaptured in Europe at 41 years old.
  • Very few bats contract rabies.  Over the last 50 years, less than 40 people have gotten rabies from a wild bat.  Scientific studies have shown that less than 1% of wild bats test positive for rabies.

http://batconservation.org/drupal/bat-myths Check out the Organization for Bat Conservation!