Bats

Appearance: Bats belong to the mammal order Chiroptera, which means "hand-wing." They are the only mammals that can truly fly. Florida has 13 resident bat species . Contrary to popular belief, bats are not blind, and many species see quite well. Because they are active at night, bats are adapted for seeing in dim light. Even in complete darkness, bats are agile, highly maneuverable fliers because they use echolocation to guide themselves. Echolocation is the use of sound waves to detect objects. Bats emit high-pitched sounds and listen for them to echo back. The length of time it takes the echo to return tells a bat how far away it is from an object. This helps bats to be very skillful flyers in the dark and to hunt successfully for food. Bats are more comfortable in darkness and often are reluctant to fly in the daytime, even when disturbed.

Habitat:

Bats live in many different habitats across Florida. They can be found in dry, upland pine forests, in the hardwood forests along the banks of rivers, and most habitats in-between. You can probably even find them flying around in your neighborhood! For bats, one of the most important parts of their habitat is a place to roost. Some bats, like the Brazilian free-tailed bat, the evening bat, and the big brown bat are colonial, meaning they gather together in a colony to roost during the day. Other species, like the Seminole bat and the tricolored bat, are solitary, meaning that they roost by themselves. In Florida, natural roosting sites can be caves, in cracks, crevices, or hollows of trees, under dead fronds of palm trees, and in Spanish moss. Bats also use manmade structures including buildings, bridges, culverts, tile roofs, and bat houses.