Bat Week is an annual event to celebrate this small, flying mammal, and what better time to talk bats than at Halloween? Although they are often depicted as spooky, blood-sucking creatures, in reality, most bats eat insects and are helpful to people.

Bats in the Landscape

California is home to over 25 bat species, but most people never see them because they are nocturnal. Bats can be helpful predators in the landscape. For example, did you know that some bats will eat stink bugs, cucumber beetles, mosquitoes, and flies? Or that some bats can eat their body weight in insects every night?

Bats as Pests

Unfortunately, sometimes bats can concern people, especially...

Halloween is the perfect time to talk about bats, since many people hang spooky bat decorations depicting them as black, blood-sucking, mysterious creatures flying over a haunted house.

But did you know that bats are actually beneficial and eat insects? Here are a few myths about bats that you likely have heard:

Myth #1: Bats are blind
You've heard the term “blind as a bat.” Bats actually have excellent vision, but also use echolocation to help them pinpoint the exact location of an insect so they can more easily find it while flying at night.

Myth #2: Bats are vampires that suck blood
Most of the bats that live in California eat night-flying insects, and...