- Bats are vital for our native wildlife, accounting for almost a third of all mammal species in the UK, they occupy a range of habitats such as woodlands, wetland, farmland and urban areas.
They are top predators of common nocturnal insects and are sensitive to changes in land use practices - All UK bats use echolocation to navigate and hunt insects in the dark, this method is so sophisticated they can detect a gossamer spider web
- Bats are the only true flying mammals in the world, while others can glide, bats are the only mammals capable of continued flight
- Bats are more closely related to humans than they are to mice
- Some bat species can live up to 30 years old
- Their knees bend in the opposite direction to us to help them climb on ceilings
- The pipistrelle is the UK’s smallest bat measuring at 4cm in length and weighs around 5 grams. Despite their tiny size they can eat up to 3,000 insects in one night. In the 1900s it was identified that there are two separate widespread species of pipistrelle, the common and soprano pipistrelle, which are distinguished by their echolocation calls.