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Why are bats good? In California almost all bats eat insects -- lots of them. Bats naturally control insect pests, like moths, flies, beetles and mosquitoes. Many bats eat half of their weight in insects each night to stay alive and healthy. Nursing mother bats may eat their full weight in insects each night. They are such efficient hunters, that they can catch this many insects (up to 1,000/hour) in a mere three hours on the wing.

Type in your weight here to find out how many one pound buckets of bugs you would need to eat each night if you were a bat.


Fantastic Fact

The largest bat colony in the U.S. is in Bracken Cave in Texas. The 20 million bats from this one cave consume 200 tons of insects each night!


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