A NIGHTMARISH swarm of bats have taken over an Australian town causing some parents to pull their kids out of school over fears they will be attacked.

The fruit bat population in Ingham, a small town in North Queensland, has exploded over the past few months, with more than 300,000 creatures taking up residence in their trees.

8 It seems like ‘every bat in Australia is now in Ingham’ Credit: A Current Affair

8 Cody Ruge was scratched by a bat while sitting at his local park Credit: A Current Affair

Many children at Ingham State School are too scared to go to their classes after a bat colony has moved in behind the building.

Adam and Susanne Kaurila fear their two daughters might get attacked at the school.

Ms Kaurila told A Current Affair: “They’re not stepping a foot in that ground until something is being done.”

Nearly 250 kilometres away in the town of Charters Towers, one boy knows all too well about the risks of being exposed to the animals.

Cody Ruge said he and his mother Renee were listening to music in a park when a bat “just drops out of the tree and like hits the table and as it was coming up it must have scratched me or something”.

He was taken to hospital after he was attacked to receive a vaccine, which required him to have 11 injections.

The bats can carry a rabies-like disease, known as Australian Bat Lyssavirus, which has killed three people in Queensland in the past 25 years.

BATS AND MATING SEASON - DO THEY MATE IN THE AIR? Bats mate in the late summer and early autumn, and the females store the males' sperm until the next spring

Bats living in warm tropical regions don't migrate — their mating patterns follow the seasonal variation in food supply

It's not clear how the bats choose their mates, but it may be the case that females seek out the most agile males

Male hammer-headed bats, which have an enlarged larynx and nasal cavity, line up in trees along the riverbank and try to woo passing females by "honking" at them

Male sac-winged bats hover in front of females to waft enticing pheromones and demonstrate their flying prowess

For some species, mating takes place upside down, whereas other species mate on cave walls or in rock crevices

Researchers have found that female short-nosed fruit bats perform oral sex on their mates

Most species of bats are promiscuous and will mate with multiple partners

A few species are even monogamous, and the entire family will roost in a group once the children are born. These monogamous bats — which include the spectral bat, the largest carnivorous bat in the world — are the only species in which the males stick around to help protect and feed the young. SOURCE: LIVESCIENCE

The Queensland Education Department said they will trim trees, build new fences in a bid to control the infestation around the school.

Hinchinbrook Shire Council mayor Ramon Jayo said the town was reaching a “crisis point” as the bat population continued to rapidly grow.

“Where they want to go is basically beside all our critical areas - that includes the schools, the hospital, our kindergartens, our preschools,” he said.

Residents have been left with very little options as the bats are a protected species.

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Amanda Wright from North Queensland Wildlife Care said the colony, which consists of two species mixed together, will shrink in April as and one of the species is migratory.

She told the ABC she understood the residents frustration but stressed the animals were vital to the eco-system.

“Without these creatures out there pollinating and creating new life, we may as well pack up walk away from our ecology.”

8 A heatwave across the region killed hundreds of bats in a single weekend and many dropped from the sky Credit: NQ Wildlife Care / Facebook

8 Adam and Susanne Kaurila are considering pulling their two daughters out of school for fear they'll be scratched by bats there Credit: A Current Affair

8 The biggest concern when it comes to being attacked by a diseased bat is the possibility of contracting lyssavirus Credit: A Current Affair

8 An infestation of bats have taken over the Queensland town of Ingham, reaching “biblical plague proportions” Credit: A Current Affair

8 Trees are buckling under the weight of the bats Credit: A Current Affair