Come October, bat imagery becomes more commonplace as kids and adults prepare for Halloween frights. But a good look at bats reveals they are not scary creatures at all, but instead, a friend to farmers and powerful mosquito eaters.

Bats make up one-fifth of all mammal species worldwide. In North Carolina, there are 17 species of bats, and seven of those are listed as endangered, threatened or of special concern. Their lifespan can vary widely based on the species, but typically, they can live anywhere from five to 30 years in the wild.
They are primarily nocturnal and hunt from dusk to early morning. It is commonly thought that bats are blind and therefore rely on their internal radar system.

“They aren’t blind at all, but like anything else that tries to see in the dark, they just don’t see as well,” says Kendrick Weeks, mountain wildlife diversity supervisor with the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission.

Bats use an internal radar system called echolocation that allows them to maneuver precisely in exceptionally dark environments. Using echolocation, a bat is able to avoid something as small as a piece of string in pitch-black darkness.

“They vocalize clicks, and it bounces off things in the environment and allows them to form a mental image of what’s around them,” Weeks says. “As they hone in on their prey, the number of clicks increases. They get a split-second image of their prey.”

People often relay stories about bats flying into and becoming entangled in long hair, only to bite the victim and transmit rabies. While the components of this story aren’t impossible, the likelihood of such an event happening is fairly slim.

“If a bat were to get caught in your hair, most likely it would be because it went after an insect and got a little too close,” Weeks says. “They won’t fly after you.”

In addition to that, the thought that all bats carry rabies is also a misconception. Less than 2 percent of bats that are tested carry rabies. In North Carolina, raccoons, skunks and fox are more likely to carry rabies than bats are.

Bats may seem like scary creatures of the dark, but they are actually a benefit to agriculture and the ecosystem. They are the only major predator of night-flying insects.

“Bats include many crop pests in their diet,” Weeks says. “They offer insect protection by eating night-flying insects like beetles, flies, mosquitoes and moths.”

Bats, in general, can eat their weight in insects each night. For reference, 1,000 bats weighing 10 grams each can consume 22 pounds of insects in one night. That translates to 4.5 million insects consumed each night.

One common pest to North Carolina crops is the hornworm moth, which is most often found around tobacco plants. The big brown bat is a known predator of the hornworm moth and is vital in the control of the pest in relation to tobacco crops.

The main role of bats in North Carolina is pest protection, but in other parts of the country, bats are useful in pollination as well. Fruit bats, found in the Southwestern United States and in South America aid in pollination and spread seeds.

“We want people to know that they shouldn’t kill bats or think of bats inhabiting their outbuildings as a negative thing,” Weeks says. “They can also create a structure for them and give them a good place to roost and breed, and that will get them out of their structure. Bats are most definitely helpful to have around.”