Mexican Free-tailed Bat –
Bats live in huge groups, called colonies, in caves or under bridges. Bat colonies fly out at night to catch their meals of bugs, especially mosquitoes. A bat can eat up to one thousand insects in a single night. Then they return to their roost and sleep all day, which means they are nocturnal.
The Mexican free-tailed bat finds its food by echolocation. Echolocation is the process of sending out sound waves and listening for their return after bouncing off other objects. Bats have poor eyesight but this ‘sonar’ ability allows them to fly and find their tiny prey.
You can imagine that with so many bats in one area each night, there must be noticeable amounts of waste left over. There is; it’s called bat guano. It can be used in gunpowder, fertilizer, and it is even used in women’s makeup.
Bats aren’t very cute, but they are our friends.
