Oct 24, 2026 · 8 min · 6 segments
From plant pollination to pest control, explore how bats contribute to ecosystems and the importance of protecting bats to reduce the risk of transmitting disease. Uploaded 16-12-14 -- What flies…
Flying through the night, I watch over this world.
A silent guardian.
A watchful protector.
A dark knight.
I'm...
I'm just a bat.
People think I'm scary, strange, and dangerous.
If they only knew my story, though, I'd be cheered as a hero.
When people think of bats, many think of vampires who want to suck their blood.
But the truth is that out of over 1,200 bat species, only three are vampire bats.
Out of these three, only one prefers the blood of mammals, and even these bats mostly feed on cattle.
Maybe that still doesn't seem so great, but vampire bats can be a great help to humans.
A chemical known as desmotaplase found in vampire bat saliva helps break down blood clots and is being tested by recovering stroke victims.
Of the remaining 1,000-plus species of bats, about 70% feed on insects.
These bats help control the real vampires, mosquitoes, whose nasty bites are not just annoying, but spread diseases like West Nile virus.
A single little brown bat can eat 1,000 insects every hour, and a colony of Mexican free-tailed bats can eat several tons of moths in just one night.
In the United States alone, bats provide an estimated $3.7 billion worth of free pest control for farmers, which benefits everyone who eats the foods that they grow.
Fruit bats, also called megabats because of their large size, are important for the role they play in plant pollination.
By traveling between flowers while feeding on nectar and fruits, these bats transport the pollen and seeds that help plants reproduce.
In Southeast Asia, for example, the cave nectar bat is the only pollinator of the durian fruit.
Other bats pollinate peaches, bananas, and the agave plants that tequila is made from.
Without them, many of our food plants would be unable to produce the tasty fruits we enjoy.
As heroes of the ecosystem, bats have their own unique utility belts.
Flying through the night, I watch over this world.
A silent guardian.
A watchful protector.
A dark knight.
I'm...
I'm just a bat.
People think I'm scary, strange, and dangerous.
If they only knew my story, though, I'd be cheered as a hero.
When people think of bats, many think of vampires who want to suck their blood.
But the truth is that out of over 1,200 bat species, only three are vampire bats.
Out of these three, only one prefers the blood of mammals, and even these bats mostly feed on cattle.
Maybe that still doesn't seem so great, but vampire bats can be a great help to humans.
A chemical known as desmotaplase found in vampire bat saliva helps break down blood clots and is being tested by recovering stroke victims.
Of the remaining 1,000-plus species of bats, about 70% feed on insects.
These bats help control the real vampires, mosquitoes, whose nasty bites are not just annoying, but spread diseases like West Nile virus.
A single little brown bat can eat 1,000 insects every hour, and a colony of Mexican free-tailed bats can eat several tons of moths in just one night.
In the United States alone, bats provide an estimated $3.7 billion worth of free pest control for farmers, which benefits everyone who eats the foods that they grow.
Fruit bats, also called megabats because of their large size, are important for the role they play in plant pollination.
By traveling between flowers while feeding on nectar and fruits, these bats transport the pollen and seeds that help plants reproduce.
In Southeast Asia, for example, the cave nectar bat is the only pollinator of the durian fruit.
Other bats pollinate peaches, bananas, and the agave plants that tequila is made from.
Without them, many of our food plants would be unable to produce the tasty fruits we enjoy.
As heroes of the ecosystem, bats have their own unique utility belts.
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