Nature Notes: Going Batty

Bats are amazing little flying mammals. I have always loved watching them emerge at sunset on a nice summer evening. They flit about catching all sorts of insects and if you've got good hearing, you can hear their little squeaks and chirps too. I am grateful to have never been afraid of bats and I think more and more people are coming to appreciate them. One thing is for sure, people love stories about mass quantities of bats. I was aware of the large colonies in Texas but never really understood just how impressive their size was. I was recently introduced to a very large colony if fruit bats in the Philippines as well. I have included some links and video clips of these awesome bat colonies below. This summer make sure you take time to look up as the sun is going down and watch these little furry mammals hunting for their daily insect meals.

The biggest bat colony in the world is located just outside San Antonio, TX. The 20 million+ Mexican free-tailed bats live in Bracken Cave. Check out this short video about them.

The Philippines have over 70 species of bats and  one island in particular, Samal Island, is home to the largest colony of fruit bats in the world, 1.8 million Geoffrey's Rousette fruit bats. This website is for the official bat sanctuary. And here you can see some more amazing photos of this cave and colony.

from National Geographic

Bat Conservation International has a great website with information about all the bat species in the United States and Canada. You can find out which species live in your state and learn all about them.