Questions about bats?

There are many types of bats, scientists estimate there are about 1,240 species in the world. Australia has about 90 species, as does Papua New Guinea more isolated islands in the Pacific have less species New Zealand used to have 3 species, however one species is now believed to be extinct.

Bats live most places, even in big cities. Some bats are fussy and have very particular habits and others are very widespread. Some bat species live in caves, but many species roost in trees, some in hollows and some in foliage.
Bats need to live somewhere where they can find food and be safe from predators.

A lot of small bats eat insects such as mosquitos and moths that they catch on the wing. Many of the larger 'fruit bats' or 'flying foxes' eat nectar from flowering trees and plants and also fruits. The Ghost bat is a carnivore eating small animals like frogs, rodents and birds and some bats have odd diets like the fishing bat which catches small fish with its feet or the Golden tipped bat that eats spiders.

There are no vampire bats in Australasia, of the 1,240 bat species in the world only 3 species feed on blood. All 3 vampire bat species live in central and southern America.

Bats are not aggressive and don't hurt people intentionally. They do however bite when defending themselves so it is important if you find an injured or trapped bat to contact a wildlife rescue group to help you.

All animals have their own diseases however some bats do have diseases that can be dangerous to people. In particular Australian Bat Lyssavirus which is a rabies type disease. Bats also carry Hendra virus which can infect horses,and horses can then infect humans. Both these diseases are not common and the risk of getting sick from a bat can be managed by taking some simple precautions.
More information about Lyssavirus and Hendra and how to avoid infection can be found in these fact sheets.
NSW Health Lyssavirus factsheet
Biosecurity Qld Hendra factsheet

Bats can be very long lived, the oldest known bat in the world was captured 41 years after it was first marked with an identification tag.

There are several species of Pipistrelle and Forest bats in Australasia that weigh about 3 grams for an adult thats about the same as an Australian 5 cent coin!. The largest species in Australasia is the greater flying fox (Pteropus neohibernicus) from New Guinea which weighs about 1kg and has a wingspan of up to 1.8 metres.

No, all bats can see and many bats have excellent eyesight that they use to find food at night. Many species can 'see' even in total darkness by using echolocation - they make high pitched calls and listen to the echos bouncing off objects to navigate

Humans with good hearing can hear up to about 18 kilohertz, the lowest echolocation calls of some bat species are around 10 kilohertz so some people can hear these calls as a loud 'tink' tink' 'tink' sound. Most bats echolocate much higher than that, the highest calls are well above 100 kilohertz -more than 5 times higher than we can hear. Which may be a good thing because many bats call very loudly often in excess of 100 decibels (as loud as a jackhammer!).

When bats feel the need to go to the toilet, they actually turn around and hold on with their thumbs so they are 'right side up' (for a person!) and so that they don't get mess on their heads!