Elementary Ecosystem Investigation: Bat House

*Click Here for Upper Grades (6-12) Version*

Investigate Bats and Their Habitat

There are over 1,400 species of bats in the world.

Over 40 of those can be found in the United States, with 16 of them here in Alabama.

Having a bat box in your outdoor classroom provides a safe place for bats to rest and raise their young!

*Click Here for Upper Grades (6-12) Version*

Investigate
Bats and Their Habitat

There are over 1,400 species of bats in the world.

Over 40 of those can be found in the United States, with 16 of them here in Alabama.

Having a bat box in your outdoor classroom provides a safe place for bats to rest and raise their young!

Educational Sign about Bats with
Two Bat Boxes up in the Trees

Learn More About...

Bat Basics

To learn about the bats species that live in Alabama, CLICK HERE!

The most commonly encountered bat in Alabama is the Eastern Red Bat.

How do they fly?

Bats are the only mammals in the world that truly fly.
Instead of arms and hands like humans have, bats have wings.
The wings have bones in them that are similar to the structure of our hands, but in between the bones are thin flaps of skin.
Their bodies, except the wings, are covered in hair.
Birds and bats do not fly the same way – birds flap their wings up and down while bats “swim” through the air.
They can beat their wings as fast as 20 times per second!

Eastern Red Bat in Flight
Wikimedia – Andy Reago and Chrissy McClarren

Are they blind?

They are NOT blind! In fact, some can see up to 3 times better than humans and can see during the daytime and nighttime.
They use echolocation to help them navigate at night while hunting.
Echolocation is when an animal makes a series of supersonic sounds (humans cannot hear them) that bounce off of objects and back to the animal’s ears.
Bats have very complex ears that funnel the sounds that have bounced back to them. It can tell the size, location, and movement of the object it approaches!
Not only does this keep the bat from hitting trees or buildings, it helps them to hunt tiny, flying insects.

How Echolocation Works
Wikimedia – Shung

What do they eat?

Different kinds of bats eat different things. Some eat fruit, others eat bugs, and some even drink blood.
All of the species in Alabama are insectivores, or insect-eaters.
Bats are nocturnal, meaning they are active during the night and sleep during the day.
When they emerge from their roosts (their homes) they fly around catching insects at night.
They may catch them directly with their mouths, or they may trap the insect with their wing or tail.
Each night, bats can eat their entire body weight or more in insects!
Not only are they great pest control, some bats are very important pollinators of fruits we love!
Without bats we wouldn’t have bananas, avocados, or mangoes.
Bats also help spread the seeds for nuts, figs, and cacao (the main ingredient in chocolate).

Bat (non-native species) eating an insect
Dreamstime

Bat Conservation

Of the 40 species of bats in the United States, at least 13 are endangered, or seriously at risk of extinction.
Bats don’t have many natural predators, but there is a major threat to them – disease.

White-nose syndrome (WNS) has killed millions of bats in North America since its discovery in 2006.
The disease is caused by a fungus that grows in cold, dark and damp places – like caves.
It attacks the bare skin on the nose and wings of bats as they hibernate in caves over winter.
As it grows, it causes the bats to become more active than usual and burn the fat that they need to survive winter.
This causes the bats to come out of the cave to hunt, but there are no food sources available during winter causing the bats to starve to death.
There is currently no cure for the disease, but scientists are working hard to study it and control its spread.

Watch our 3-minute video to learn more about bat conservation and white-nose syndrome:
YouTube | Vimeo

Read about the New Bat Habitat found for the endangered gray bat in Anniston, Alabama!

White-nose Syndrome – Little Brown Bat
USFWS – Moriarty Marvin

Interesting Facts

#1 A baby bat is called a pup.

#2 The smallest species of bat is the Kitti’s hog-nosed bat (also called the Bumblebee Bat). It weighs less than a penny and has a wingspan of 6 inches.

The golden-crowned flying fox is the largest bat species. It weighs over 2.5 pounds and has a wingspan of up to 6 feet.

#3 While some birds are faster when diving, a bat holds the record for the fastest flying animal for horizontal flight.

The Brazilian free-tailed bat can fly at speeds of over 160 kilometres per hour (almost 100 miles per hour).

#4 Bat poop, called guano, is a great fertilizer.

The nutrients in it can be critical for the survival of the other organisms that live in the same ecosystem (like caves).

#5 Ears are very important to bats, as they use them to hunt for food. This is why they are so large.

One species of bat, the Allen’s big-eared bat, has ears so long that they make up two-thirds of its body length.

#6 The insects that bats eat have exoskeletons made of a material called chitin.

This makes some bat poop sparkle!

#7 The largest known colony of bats is at Bracken Bat Cave near San Antonio, Texas. Each summer, 20 million adults and pups live here.

Bumblebee Bat on Researcher’s Finger
Bat Conservation International – Yushi Osawa

Brazilian Free-tailed Bat
Flickr – Bureau of Land Management

Allen’s Big-eared Bat
Wikimedia – Juan Cruzado Cortes

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