Bats

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Colony: a group of the same kind (species) of plants or animals living together... more

Insectivore: an animal that mainly eats insects... more

What Do Bats Eat?

With close to 1000 different types of bats, it shouldn't be surprising that bats eat a lot of different types of food. They are also great hunters able to locate the faintest sounds and smallest movement. So what do bats eat?

Volkswagen Beetle

The 20 million Mexican free-tail bats that live in Bracken Cave can eat approximately 200 tons of insects in one night. Which would be like eating 200 Volkswagen Beetle cars.

Most bats eat insects and are called insectivores. These bats like to eat beetles, moths, mosquitoes, and more. And they sure do eat a lot of insects. Did you know that one little brown bat can eat up to 500 mosquito-sized insects in an hour? Now that's a lot of insects. And some bat colonies have millions of bats! Just imagine how many more insects there might be without these insectivorous bats.

There are some bats that like to eat fruit, seeds, and pollen from flowers. These bats are called frugivores. Their favorite foods are figs, mangoes, dates, and bananas. Some frugivores have been known to drink sugar water from humming bird feeders.

So what other types of food do bats eat? There are bats that eat birds, fish, frogs, lizards, even other bats. There are even bats that drink blood. These are called vampire bats. There are only 3 types of vampire bats and they all live in Central and South America. And don't worry – vampire bats do not like to drink human blood. They mainly get blood from cows, sheep, and horses. To get blood, vampire bats make a small cut in a sleeping animals skin and lap up a little bit of blood. Vampire bats only need about 2 teaspoons of blood a day – that's such a small amount that often times the cow or sheep doesn't even wake up while the bat is feeding.

Types of bat food

Which of these is not a bat food? A trick question you might say, because all of these are food for some type of bat. There are even more foods that bats like to eat. Which bat foods are missing from the group?

References:

Wilson, Don. 1997. Bats in Question. The Smithsonian Answer Book. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington. 168p.

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Bibliographic details:

  • Article: Bat Food
  • Author(s): Elizabeth Hagen
  • Publisher: Arizona State University School of Life Sciences Ask A Biologist
  • Site name: ASU - Ask A Biologist
  • Date published: November 4, 2009
  • Date accessed: March 6, 2024
  • Link: https://askabiologist.asu.edu/bat-food

APA Style

Elizabeth Hagen. (2009, November 04). Bat Food. ASU - Ask A Biologist. Retrieved March 6, 2024 from https://askabiologist.asu.edu/bat-food

American Psychological Association. For more info, see http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/10/

Chicago Manual of Style

Elizabeth Hagen. "Bat Food". ASU - Ask A Biologist. 04 November, 2009. https://askabiologist.asu.edu/bat-food

MLA 2017 Style

Elizabeth Hagen. "Bat Food". ASU - Ask A Biologist. 04 Nov 2009. ASU - Ask A Biologist, Web. 6 Mar 2024. https://askabiologist.asu.edu/bat-food

Modern Language Association, 7th Ed. For more info, see http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/08/
Pallid bat
Depending on the species, bats eat many different things, from insects, to fruits, to blood.

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