Mosquito myths
(and truths)

Can a bat really eat 1,000 mosquitoes in a single hour? Um, no. Well , they could but it ain't going to happen so please don't hold your breath. This myth has been perpetuated by overly optimistic vendors misinterpreting and exaggerating a study that found "bats can eat up to 600 mosquito sized insects per hour" Extremely misleading at the very least since sadly neither mosquitoes nor tiny mosquito sized insects are the preferred 'bug' in the diet of any known North American species of bat.

The good news is that mosquitoes are still on the menu of numerous species of bats including many that will inhabit artificial roosts. (Psst, these bat houses I'm selling) Reliable research has found that mosquitoes comprise approximately 1% of a typical bats diet.

A conservative 250 insects per hour will add up to over 2,000 'mosquito sized equivalents' per night. Now twenty mosquitoes sounds quite disappointing until you consider that a maternity colony sized bat house can easily hold well over 200 bats. 200 X 20 = 4,000 and now were back to making a dent in the mosquito population! Night after night all summer long.

Many bat house landlords have reported a noticeable decrease in the number of mosquitoes and mosquito bites in the first few minutes after their bats emerge in the evening. I personally think the bats catching a few quick snacks to hold them until they fly to their nightly feeding grounds is the reason.
So until we find out for sure, let's all quit exaggerating what these wonderful little critters can do and just accept that "Bats Eat Bugs!"

Fruit bat at a zoo

Well, all of them except this incredibly cute fruit bat my brother photographed in a zoo somewhere. 

Thanks for visiting!

William Bagwell

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