WHAT ARE SOME IMPORTANT FACTS ABOUT BATS?
• Contrary to popular belief, less than one percent of bats carry rabies and attacks by bats are extremely rare. • Bats are the only truly flying mammals; they belong to the Order Chiropfera and are not rodents. • All of the bats found in New Jersey are strictly insect eaters; a bat can consume hundreds of insects in an hour. • Bats are not blind but they depend more on their sonar than eyesight to navigate, avoid obstacles, and capture insects. They almost never get tangled in peoples’ hair. • Some of our common bats congregate in colonies, often in buildings. These social bats usually return to the same roost year after year and start maternity colonies in the spring. The young are born in June and July. • Bats are true hibernators and usually enter caves, mines, buildings, and even sewers in the fall to hibernate over winter. • Individual bats can live to be 30 years old; colonies can be present at the same location for over 100 years. WHAT IF YOU ARE BITTEN, SCRATCHED OR MAY HAVE H
