Bats are amazing creatures and there are many things that most people don’t know about these animals. Almost 25% of all mammals species are bats due to the fact that there are over 1,100 different species that we know about. Most of these different species are so small that they would fit into your palm. In fact, the bumblebee bat is the smallest mammal in the world as it weighs only about as much as a dime. This does not mean that all bats are small, though. The giant flying fox of Indonesia has an almost six foot wingspan.

One very important fact about bats is: bats are not birds; they are mammals. These amazing creatures are very clean as they spend much of their time grooming themselves when they are not eating or sleeping. They can also have amazing abilities like an immunity to poison as in the case of the pallid bat that can eat venomous scorpions and centipedes without any problems.

Another interesting fact is how long bats can live. The average life span for most bats is about 25-40 years. The lifespan of the little brown bat at almost forty years earns it the title of one of the longest lived mammals of its size. This is a very good thing since bats only reproduce once a year with a single pup. This makes them the slowest reproducers for mammals of their size. Unfortunately, this combined with other threats to bats means that about half of the species in the U.S. are threatened, rare, or endangered.

Bats also help us in ways we don’t even think about. One little brown bat can single-handedly eat up to 1,000 mosquitoes in one hour. In the Bracken Cave in Texas, you can find 20,000,000 Mexican free-tailed bats who eat 250 tons of insects in a single night. Imagine what it would be like without those bats. A heart or stroke patient may have bats to thank for the anticoagulant they received which may have been derived from vampire bat saliva.

Bats play the very important role of pollinators. The pollination of giant cacti in the desert is very dependent on the bats that eat their nectar. These mammals also help with seed dispersal for several types of fruits.

Bats can also be very caring creatures. Those same Mexican free-tailed bat mothers can find their own baby to nurse and take care of even when there are many, many bats clustered together. A nursing little brown bat can also perform an amazing feat when she eats more than her body weight each night. That’s what happens when you chow down on up to 4,500 insects each night!

Bats are not the blood sucking nightmare creatures that some stories make them out to be. These creatures are not only peaceful, but they help us as well.