What Does a Bat Eat?

Insects

• Insects are the diet of choice for 70 percent of bats worldwide. Some bats can catch up to 2,000 insects a night; a small brown bat can eat up to 1,000 mosquitoes in an hour. These bats serve an important role in agriculture by helping to thin out the pests that can damage crops.

Fruit

• Most fruit-eating bats live in the tropics. These larger varieties of bats live on a fruit smorgasbord that can include avocados, dates, peaches and mangoes. There are about 166 species of fruit bats. These mammals can be found in the forests of Asia, Africa, Europe and Australia.

Nectar

• Bats who eat nectar play an important role in pollination. Desert bats, for example, have a long nose and tongue to assist with extracting nectar from flowers. Harming bats can also harm plant populations, including a study that showed a link between bats dying off because of quarry activity and the fading population of nearby durian fruit trees, according to the Wild Classroom, a teacher resource informational website.

Carnivores

• Only about 1 percent of bats are carnivores. These bats eat rodents, frogs, fish and other small vertebrates.

Vampire Bats

• Vampire bats exist, but there are only three species and they can only be found in South America. They are equipped with two sharp front teeth for puncturing their victims, usually mammals such as cows, and also the ability to secrete an anticoagulant to keep the blood from clotting. As unsavory as this may sound, the only danger from vampire bats is that they can spread rabies.