Bat Facts

Here are a few interesting facts about Bats – which we think you’ll be very surprised at…

Although bats have fur and can fly, they actually belong to the Mammal family.

The old saying of  “as blind as a bat”  is complete nonsense, as bats are not blind at all.  They can probably see aswell as you or me at twilight.  They do use their eyes but can only see in black and white like us, and they do have a great sense of hearing and use echolocation.

All British bats like to eat insects and sometimes will indulge in other invertebrate like spiders. However, in Central and South America, the Vampire bat (yes it does exist) will feed on the blood of birds, and one species will feed on other bats. Yuck!

There are 17 species of bats in the UK, but there are more than 1,000 species across the world.  They are mainly found in the tropics, and you will never find one in the arctic or antartic  British bats hibernate during the colder months.  In preparation they become less active, store food as extra fat and tuck themselves away somewhere cool.  Their heart beats and breathing slows down so that they use less energy.

So when you are out at night, although you may not hear the bat, you may spot something dark flying quickly in the night sky!