If dogs are human’s best friend, cats are a close second. They fill our homes with companionship and cuddles. Yet some of our tabbies, tortoiseshells, and beloved furballs can also create problems for wildlife, including bats.

All domestic cats that spend time outdoors, whether they are free roaming house cats, stray, or feral, pose a threat to wildlife and biodiversity, especially birds and small mammals. In the United States, it has been estimated that free-ranging domestic cats kill up to four billion birds and almost 23 billion mammals every year. In the United Kingdom cats kill an estimated quarter million bats each year

For those of us who are cat lovers, this may be difficult to hear, but conservationists and ecologists consider free-ranging domestic cats and feral cats to be an invasive species. Cats are responsible for the extinction of 33 bird species worldwide and have been a factor in extinctions of species living on islands. Long thought to be practical and safe to control pests, cats actually exacerbate rodent problems instead of control them. Cats aren’t devils. They mean no harm and are only following their instincts, but housecats may be the single greatest source of human influenced mortality of wildlife in the world.

Although there has been anecdotal evidence of the threat cats pose to bats for at least the past 30 years, few studies have examined this threat carefully. The gaps in our knowledge on this topic began to change recently, when researchers in New Caledonia, a small, French territory in the southwest Pacific, noticed bat remains in the scat of feral cats on the small island, including remains of all three large bat species that live in New Caledonia: Pacific flying foxes, New Caledonia flying foxes, and ornate flying foxes. They recorded remains of fruit bats of the island in the scat as well. They had known smaller bats were preyed upon by cats, but the larger bats were a surprise.

Cats are responsible for the extinction of 33 bird species worldwide.

These observations prompted the scientists to review the existing literature on cat-bat predation; they found that 86 bat species throughout the world are preyed upon by cats, and about a fourth of these species are listed as Near Threatened, Threatened by the IUCN. Further, the team discovered that cats prey on all types of bats — insectivores, fruit bats, flying foxes, etc. — throughout all types of habitats the world over. Basically, wherever there are bats and free-roaming cats, bats suffer.

Bats that forage close to the ground are the most susceptible to being caught by a cat. Fruit bats eating fruit that has fallen to the ground are especially vulnerable to being pounced upon by cats. Cities and towns, where the numbers of feral and stray cats are concentrated, present greater danger to bats than forests, grasslands, or other open areas.

Cats prey on all types of bats throughout all types of habitats the world over. Basically, wherever there are bats and free-roaming cats, bats suffer.

Jamaica

In Jamaica, which has 21 species of bats, five endemic to the island, researchers have actually observed cats in their hunt for bats. Cats wait at the entrances of this Caribbean island’s caves, and they snag bats as they fly out for their night’s foraging. Pregnant females and juveniles offer the easiest prey.

Scientists have seen cats hunting at a cave situated in a rural area north-west of Kingston, where an estimated two million bats belonging to ten different species make their homes. This cave is the only roost where the critically Endangered Jamaican greater funnel-eared bats live. Only about 250 individuals of this species are thought to remain. Cats also hunt bats at Jamaica’s Stony Hill Cave, home to three species of bats, including the critically Endangered Jamaican flower bat. In 2022 BCI, working in partnership with the Jamaican Natural Resources Conservation Agency and NEPA, purchased the land around Stony Hill Cave, saving the region from development and the possibility of an increased housecat population. In partnership with the Polly Ground community and the National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA), BCI has been installing predator-exclusion fencing around the cave entrances that will help keep cats away from the cave entrances and provide the bats living in the cave a little more safety from predators as they emerge. (Learn more about BCI’s Endangered Species Intervention work in Jamaica here.)

Saving Bats from Cats

Cats and bats don’t mix. Period. If you have a purring family member, you can do your part to help keep bats and other wildlife safe by keeping your cat indoors. Because cat attacks are one of the most common causes of bat (and bird) casualties, keeping cats indoors – or at the very least, at night, especially during summer months when bat mothers are feeding their young – can help protect your local bat population. If your cat finds a bat, it may learn where the roost is located, which places an entire colony at risk. If your community has a feral cat coalition you could join or otherwise support their work. By helping to control feral cat populations you can make your community and the rest of the world a safer place for bats.

Learn more about BCI’s Endangered Species Campaign at: batcon.org/nightwatch

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Starting a new year is a time to reflect on the past and make goals for the future. And if you are like about 50 percent of Americans, one of your New Year’s Resolutions might be related to fitness. Maybe you want to hit the gym regularly this year or maybe start up a running program. If so, you may be able to take inspiration from an unlikely source – bats! While bats are best known as the only mammals capable of flight, at least a couple have adapted to a life on the ground: the common vampire bat (Desmodus rotundus and the New Zealand lesser short-tailed bat (Mystacina tuberculata.

With hands and forearms that have been highly modified through evolution into wings, and knees that face backwards (compared to humans), how exactly is it that bats can run anyway? Let’s start by examining the kinematic definition of “running.” If an animal’s gait has an aerial phase, where all four limbs are off the ground, then it meets one of the criteria to be considered a “run.” The second criteria has to do with how much time a limb spends in the air over the course of a stride (or duty cycle) – if in the air for more than 50 percent of this cycle, then it is kinematically a run.

While bats are best known as the only mammals capable of flight, at least a couple have adapted to a life on the ground.

To measure the kinematics of bats moving on the ground, scientists trained bats to walk on a special treadmill, recording their movements with video. At low speeds, the vampire bats moved with a “cat-like” prowl, using a lateral sequence gait. This gait is common in quadruped animals; when the left front limb moves forward, the back right limb does the same. While the short-tailed bats did not take to the treadmill as readily as the vampire bats, they also used the same lateral sequence walk. However, as the speed on the treadmill increased, the vampire bats shifted their gait from a prowl to a bouncing gallop. Since this bounding gait has a significant aerial phase where all four limbs leave the ground, it meets at least one of the definitions of a run. However, unlike the bounding gait of other mammals like squirrels and rabbits, vampire bats use a front-wheel drive – they initiate their leaps using their front limbs instead of the back legs.

With hands and forearms that have been highly modified through evolution into wings, and knees that face backwards, how exactly is it that bats can run anyway?

Why would bats be adapted to move efficiently on the ground? The New Zealand lesser short-tailed bat evolved on islands without native land predators like cats or snakes. While they didn’t become flightless like some famous island birds, such as the dodo or kea parrot, these bats have adapted to take advantage of ground-based resources. In addition to catching insects in the air, as most insect-eating bats do, short-tailed bats spend up to 30 percent of their time scurrying along the forest floor in search of buried insects, fruits, and nectar. With no major predators around, they’ve never needed to run fast or make quick escapes.

Unlike the bounding gait of other mammals like squirrels and rabbits, vampire bats use a “front-wheel drive.”

In contrast, common vampire bats use their cat-like prowl to approach their sleeping prey, which includes large livestock like pigs, cows and horses. When feeding under animals that are up to 16,000 times their size, a quick burst of speed can be crucial for dodging a dangerous stomp. Interestingly, the ability to gallop may be unique to common vampire bats. When placed on a treadmill, the white-winged vampire bat (Diaemus youngiialso moved in a lateral sequence gait, but did not transition to a run at higher speeds. White-winged vampire bats, along with the yet-to-be-tested hairy-legged vampire bats (Diphylla ecaudata, primarily feed on birds, so they likely don’t require the same speed to avoid being crushed during a meal.

If you’re planning out your running goals this year, you might be thinking about how to stay in your “fat-burning” zone or perfecting your carb-loading strategy for that big race. After all, humans, like most mammals, rely on metabolizing carbs and fats to fuel endurance activities. However, recent research on vampire bats and their treadmills uncovered an unusual way for mammals to power their workouts. Scientists monitored vampire bat metabolism for up to 90 minutes as the bats walked on the treadmill and found that at much as 60 percent of the bats’ energy came from amino acids, the building blocks of protein, not carbs or fat. This discovery makes sense considering their protein-rich but nutrient-limited diet and highlights just some of the incredible adaptations vampire bats have to support their blood-feeding lifestyle.

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We all know that bats are the best. But what of the most outstanding of the best? Let’s take a look at the bats who are the biggest, smallest, loudest, and other bats who hold “world records” in the bat world.

Smallest

The bumblebee bat (also known as the Kitti’s Hog-nosed Bat) is only about one and one third inches when measured from head to rump, making it not only the smallest bat but the smallest mammal in the world! If one were to land on you, you may not notice, as these brownish red to grey bats with big ears weigh less than 2 grams (about as much as a small coin).

Bumblebee bats are found only among limestone caves close to rivers in forested areas of the Myanmar-Thailand border. At dawn, they leave their roosts to breakfast on flies and small insects for about 18 minutes. They then return to the skies at dusk for a half hour of feeding. They otherwise roost, sleeping or in torpor. Tourism, fertilizer collection, and limestone mining pose the largest threat to the two small areas of habitat of this species.

Largest

Named for the golden fur that adorn their heads, flying foxes live in lowland forests of several Philippine islands. They use their acute sight and smell to find figs and other fruits to eat. This species serves an important ecological function by spreading fig seeds in its droppings.

Fastest Flyers

The largest bats in the world are the giant golden-crowned flying foxes of the Philippines. They can weigh about three pounds with wingspans that can stretch more than five feet across from wingtip to wingtip. For perspective, that is about as tall as actress Salma Hayek (sans heels).

These flying foxes put those large wings to good use, flying an average of 25 miles per night. And when they aren’t flying, they use their wings as sleeping bags, wrapping their dark brown appendages around them as they roost, rest, and sleep.

In July of 2009, the Guinness Book of World Records, Boston University, Brown University, and other institutions recorded Brazilian free-tailed bats flying at 99.5 miles per hour, which makes this species the fastest bat in the world.

Measuring flight speed is tricky. It’s not as though scientists can set up a marathon among flying creatures with a start and finish line. To clock the bats, scientists performed some tricky piloting of an airplane and tagged the bats with radio transmitters. They explain that the free-tailed bats achieve their great speed because they have aerodynamic bodies and longer wings than most other bats species.

Greater bulldog bats are the heavy metal screamers of the animal kingdom, making ultra-high frequency calls as loud as 140 decibels.

Loudest

The greater bulldog bat hunts for fish in rivers and ponds of South America using echolocation calls that are not particularly loud. But when they want to grab the attention or otherwise communicate with another bulldog bat, they are the heavy metal screamers of the animal kingdom, making ultra-high frequency calls as loud as 140 decibels. These bats and their ears are adapted to this high level of sound, which is as loud as a report from a gun or the din on an aircraft carrier and can cause permanent damage to human ears.

Longest Migration

Unobserved until recently, the straw-colored fruit bat is now known to travel over 1,500 miles across Africa in its seasonal migration. During the rainy season, from October through December, eight million of these large, yellowish bats converge on an evergreen swamp forest in Zambia’s Kasanka National Park to feast on figs, mahogany, and other fruit.

This distinguishes the straw-colored fruit bat as having not only the longest bat migration, but also having the largest migration of any mammal, more than impalas and even elephants! The numbers of these bats can be so great they can fill the night sky. As seed spreaders, this bat is a keystone species for central African ecology, although hunting and deforestation pose a threat to these long-distance travelers.

In summertime, more than 15 million Mexican free-tailed bats make their home in Bracken Cave – the largest colony of bats in the world.

Largest Bat Colony

In summertime, more than 15 million Mexican free-tailed bats make their home in Bracken Cave just outside of San Antonio, Texas. This is the largest colony of bats in the world. The multitude of bats flying out of the cave each night is so great that they have been compared to the sight of a tornado.

During these summer months, as females give birth and raise their young, this colony also plays a major role for local agriculture. On any given night, these bats consume over 100 tons of corn earworm moths and other crop pests.

In 1992, BCI purchased Bracken Cave and 4.7 acres of surrounding land. Continually expanding upon this initial acquisition and together with the Nature Conservancy, BCI now conserves 3,462 contiguous acres of distinctive and rugged Texas Hill Country around Bracken Cave. Besides conservation efforts for bats, such as monitoring for white-nose syndrome, BCI also sponsors surveys of other wildlife on the preserve, including the black-crested titmouse and the Threatened golden-cheeked warbler. And with the new year upon us, BCI will continue its conservation work at Bracken Cave and throughout the world, wherever bats are found.

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Dotting the coastal landscape of Kenya and Tanzania are ancient limestone caves. Formed from the shells and exoskeletons of ancient corals and sea creatures, these caves are the last refuges for the endangered Hildegarde’s tomb bat (Taphozous hildegardeae). Endemic to this region, these bats are found only in a geographic area of around 700 square miles ̶ that’s smaller than the entire state of Rhode Island! The actual area of suitable habitat used by the bat is much smaller and they are currently only found roosting in a handful of these coastal caves. The forest habitat used by these bats is increasingly fragmented, due to encroaching development, deforestation, and other types of disturbance.

Bats make up 27 percent of Africa’s mammal species and play important roles as pollinators, seed dispersers, and pest control throughout the continent.

When most people think of African mammals, they likely imagine the majestic lion or towering giraffes ̶ not the humble bat. Bats make up 27 percent of Africa’s mammal species and play important roles as pollinators, seed dispersers, and pest control throughout the continent. Like Hildegarde’s tomb bat, many of Africa’s bat species rely on caves for shelter and reproduction. Negative attitudes towards bats in these regions can also lead to persecution and destruction of roosts. African bat conservationists, such as Dr. Paul Webala, a professor at Masaai Mara University, have long championed the protection of Kenyan bat caves. Rapid development, especially in coastal areas, is also placing these important caves at risk. These threats also caught the attention of Dr. Isabella Mandl, BCI’s Regional Director for Africa and Asia, who began networking with Dr. Webala and local community members on how to best protect these coastal roosts.

In line with these efforts, BCI recently moved forward with purchasing a plot of land in the area of Watamu, about 105 km north of Mombasa, and the site of Kaboga Cave. This cave is one of the few remaining caves where Hildegarde’s tomb bat can be found. Ownership of the land has since been transferred to Kenyan partner organization Angaza Vijiji, with whom BCI is creating a management plan. Integral to this work is Dr. David Wechuli, a Kenyan bat scientist (and BCI scholar) who was recently hired as BCI’s Kenya Program Manager and has extensive experience working in these communities. As Dr. Mandl describes, “This is very much not a research project, but a multifaceted effort focusing on cave roost protection through outreach and applied skill-building within the communities.”.

South of the Kaboga Cave site, nestled in the far southeast corner of the country is the village of Fikirini and the Three Sisters Cave. With four distinct chambers within the cave complex, three of which are occupied by bats, this site is another important roost site for the Hildagarde’s tomb bat. These caves also hold important cultural significance, with local community members using one of the caves for traditional ceremonies. The Three Sisters Caves also was an important refuge during the slave trade in the mid to late 1800s.

Kenyan coastal caves are not just home to the Hildegarde’s tomb bat, but several other unique and important African bats, including Egyptian fruit-eating bats (Rousettus aegyptiacus), near-threatened bats like the striped leaf-nosed bat (Macronycteris vittatus) and Decken’s horseshoe bat (Rhinolophus deckenii), and the data-deficient Least long-fingered bat (Miniopterus minor), among others. The periodic shafts of light, long, hallway-like passages and sheer number of bats make for a stunning spectacle come dusk, a moment captured in exquisite detail by Chris Gallaway, the filmmaker behind BCI’s new cave conservation series “Night Watch.”

The BCI team is working with the Fikirini community to develop sustainable management practices that will preserve this culturally and ecologically important site. This includes close collaboration with Angaza Vijiji, a Kenyan organization that specializes in green enterprise development to help the community develop skills needed to manage the cave and gain income from their efforts. Dr. Paul Webala is also involved as an advisor, with students and early-career bat researchers in Kenya collecting ecological and monitoring data on the bats, and whose results help shape on-the-ground management decisions.

The story of the tomb bat is one of resilience  ̶  despite encroaching disturbance, the bats have continued to hang on in these caves.

In some ways, the story of the tomb bat is one of resilience ̶ despite encroaching disturbance, the bats have continued to hang on in these caves. It also highlights the importance of taking action now, before it’s too late. When asked what she hopes will be the future of these efforts and BCI’s work in Kenya, Dr. Mandl expresses hope and optimism. “This is about giving the communities we work with the tools to sustain the conservation of bats on their own and to enable them to protect their land from development and exploitation,” she says. “Community is the heart of this project. Our work is informed by research results but it very much depends on a holistic approach to conservation to succeed.”

Learn more about BCI’s Endangered Species Work and watch the film series at: batcon.org/nightwatch

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