Wildlife Watching Wednesday: Forest-Dwelling Eastern Red Bat
By: Tom Berg
Some people are afraid of bats. There is really no reason to fear these small creatures, though. Bats are beneficial and they are actually quite interesting. Bats are the only mammals in the world that can truly fly, and they eat thousands upon thousands of insects (including hordes of mosquitoes) every summer. What’s not to like?
One of the more common bats in the eastern United States is the eastern red bat. These bats have short fur on their bodies that varies in color from dull red to bright red, and the fur is often tipped with white. The membrane on their wings is black or dark brown. In addition to eating mosquitoes, red bats also eat plenty of other bugs, including moths, beetles, flies, cicadas and almost any other insect they can catch.
Of course, as everyone knows, all bats routinely catch their prey on the wing with the aid of echo-location. As they fly at night, the bats emit high-pitches noises which bounce off flying insects and return back to them. They are experts at using echo-location to easily find and catch their prey in mid-air, in the dark. It is amazing to watch!
Red bats are considered to be tree bats (as opposed to bats that live in caves), so they roost in trees during the day. Some live in dense forests, but many also live in suburban back yards where large deciduous trees are nearby. At the end of summer, they begin their annual migration south to warmer climates. This also coincides with the drop in abundance of their insect food sources.
Autumn is also when eastern red bats mate, and breeding takes place during their southward migration. Females don’t give birth until the following year, typically in early June. One to four baby bats called pups are usually born, and they cling to their mother’s belly for protection. The pups can fly after about four weeks, and then they start eating the same insects as their parents.
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