Of all the animals on our Earth, bats are probably the most misunderstood. There are more myths about bats than any other animal. Uninformed people will tell you bats are all bloodsuckers and hunt humans at night, flying into your hair and attacking in groups, and all of them have rabies.

This is not so. They are gentle, intelligent creatures, and despite their reputation of being evil bloodsuckers, bats are eco-friendly creatures.

Bats can carry rabies. If you see a bat during the day, flopping around on the ground, dead or alive, anywhere on your property, please call animal control. Do not touch it. Do not let your animals touch it. It most probably has rabies. There have been 21 rabid bats in Los Angeles County so far this year, with 11 of them being in the Santa Clarita Valley. The most important thing to remember is to avoid contact with sick bats.

Bats are mammals. They are the only mammals capable of sustained flight. Most eat insects and fruit-nectar-pollen, while only a few species (none in Santa Clarita) feed on animals and the blood of animals.

Those that eat insects are especially important to our ecosystem because they reduce the need for insecticides. You might see them in spring and summer at dusk flying in dipping, U-shaped patterns above you. They are swooping up and down to catch insects. Many of these insects, such as mosquitoes, are disease carriers. So think of bats as saving you from West Nile virus, malaria and other vector-borne diseases. Bats use echolocation to hunt. This means that they use sound waves to navigate and to identify flying insects.

Bats are present throughout the world. In addition to keeping the insect population down, they pollinate flowers, disperse fruit seeds and provide rich guano that people use for fertilizer. Microorganisms in bat guano are being studied, as they might have substantial medical uses for humans.

Bats pollinate trees, flowers and cacti. They pollinate avocados, bananas, breadfruit, dates, figs, mangoes and peaches. They eat half their weight in insects per night – and there are millions in each colony, so you can see that without bats, we’d be overrun with insects. Bats are useful creatures and deserve your respect.

BAT FACTS

Life span: Average 5 years, up to 30 years

Gestation: 40 days to 10 months, depending on species and food availability

Number of young at birth: Usually 1 per year, some species have 2 or 3

Wingspan: Largest – flying fox Pteropus sp., up to 6 feet (1.8 meters)

Wingspan: Smallest – Kitti’s hog-nosed bat Craseonycteridae thonglongyai, less than 6 inches (15.2 centimeters)

Weight: Heaviest – flying fox, 3.3 pounds (1.5 kilograms)

Weight: Lightest – Kitti’s hog-nosed bat, 0.07 ounces (2 grams)

Weight at birth: 0.008 to 13 ounces (0.22 grams to 370 grams), depending on species

Throughout the world, there are 1,300 species of bats, with more than 20 percent of the world’s bats living in Africa. Many of these species are endangered or rare. The Department of Fish and Wildlife monitors these species of concern.

Here is a listing of bats that occur in California:

Order: Chiroptera Family: Phyllostomidae

4 species of leaf-nosed bats occur in California.

* Mexican Long-tongued Bat, Choeronycteris mexicana (CDFG special concern)

* Southern Long-nosed Bat, Leptonycteris curasoae

* Lesser Long-nosed Bat, Leptonycteris yerbabuenae

* California Leaf-nosed Bat, Macrotus californicus (CDFG special concern)

Order: Chiroptera Family: Vespertilionidae

19 species of vesper bats occur in California.

* Pallid Bat, Antrozous pallidus (CDFG special concern)

* Silver-haired Bat, Lasionycteris noctivagans

* California Myotis, Myotis californicus

* Western Small-footed Myotis, Myotis ciliolabrum

* Long-eared Myotis, Myotis evotis

* Little Brown Myotis, Myotis lucifugus

* Arizona Myotis, Myotis occultus (CDFG special concern)

* Fringed Myotis, Myotis thysanodes

* Cave Myotis, Myotis velifer (CDFG special concern)

* Long-legged Myotis, Myotis volans

* Yuma Myotis, Myotis yumanensis

* Townsend’s Big-eared Bat, Corynorhinus townsendii (formerly Plecotus townsendii; CDFG special concern)

Pale Big-eared Bat – C. townsendii pallescens (CDFG special concern)

* Big Brown Bat, Eptesicus fuscus

* Spotted Bat, Euderma maculatum (CDFG special concern)

* Allen’s Big-eared Bat, Idionycteris phyllotis

* Western Red Bat, Lasiurus blossevillii

* Hoary Bat, Lasiurus cinereus

* Western Yellow Bat, Lasiurus xanthinus

* Western Pipistrelle, Parastrellus hesperus

Order: Chiroptera Family: Molossidae

4 species of free-tailed bats occur in California.

* Western Mastiff Bat, Eumops perotis

California Mastiff Bat, E. perotis californicus (CDFG special concern)

* Pocketed Free-tailed Bat, Nyctinomops femorosaccus (CDFG special concern)

* Big Free-tailed Bat, Nyctinomops macrotis (CDFG special concern)

* Brazilian (or Mexican) Free-tailed Bat, Tadarida brasiliensis

Dianne Erskine-Hellrigel is executive director of the Community Hiking Club and president of the Santa Clara River Watershed Conservancy. If you’d like to be part of the solution, join the Community Hiking Club’s Stewardship Committee. Contact Dianne through communityhikingclub.org or at zuliebear@aol.com.