Do Bats Eat Wasps? A Detailed Look At The Diet Of Bats

Bats are mysterious creatures of the night that capture our imagination. If you’ve ever sat outside on a summer evening, you’ve probably seen bats flitting about as they hunt for food. But what exactly are they eating? Do bats feast on pesky wasps and bees? Let’s take a closer look.

If you’re short on time, here’s a quick answer to your question: Yes, some species of bats do eat wasps and bees as part of their varied insect diet. However, bats tend to prefer softer-bodied insects like moths, mosquitoes, and flies.

Harder insects with stingers like wasps and bees make up only a small portion of most bat species’ diets.

The Dietary Habits of Bats

Insectivorous Bats

The majority of bats worldwide are insectivores, which means they eat insects. Insectivorous bats have specially adapted teeth and jaws that allow them to easily catch and consume insects during flight. Some common insect prey for bats include moths, mosquitoes, beetles, and flying ants.

An insectivorous bat can eat hundreds or even thousands of insects in a single night! These bats play an important role in controlling insect populations in many ecosystems.

Fruit-Eating Bats

Fruit-eating bats, also known as frugivorous bats, predominantly eat fruit. There are around 300 species of frugivorous bats found in tropical and subtropical regions around the world. They have sharp teeth and strong jaws adapted for biting into fruits and chewing plant material.

Fruits that are commonly eaten by these bats include figs, mangoes, bananas, and guavas. The seeds from the fruit pass through the bat’s digestive system and are dispersed to new locations, which helps with plant propagation and forest regeneration.

Nectar-Eating Bats

Nectar-feeding bats, also called nectarivorous bats, have long snouts and tongues adapted for obtaining nectar from flowers. There are about 200 species of nectar-eating bats globally. They play a key role as pollinators for many species of plants.

When they visit flowers to drink the nectar, pollen collects on their fur and gets transferred between plants. Some common nectar-producing flowers that attract bats include agave, saguaro cactus, and baobab tree blossoms.

Carnivorous Bats

While the majority of bats eat insects, fruit or nectar, there are a few species that are carnivorous. These meat-eating bats hunt small vertebrates such as frogs, fish, lizards, and even small birds. The greater bulldog bat is one example of a carnivorous bat species.

It uses echolocation to find prey and has sharp claws to grab its victim. Other carnivorous bats include the false vampire bats found in Africa and Asia.

Omnivorous Bats

Omnivorous bats have the most varied diet. They eat both plant and animal matter. For example, the Egyptian fruit bat eats fruits such as figs and dates but will also prey on birds, frogs and insects. The spectral bat, found in Mexico and the southwestern United States, also has an omnivorous diet.

It eats fruits, pollen and nectar as well as insects, small vertebrates and even fish. An omnivorous diet provides great dietary flexibility and allows these bat species to take advantage of many different food resources.

Do Insect-Eating Bats Prey on Wasps and Bees?

Bats Tend to Avoid Stinging Insects

Most insect-eating bats, especially in North America, actually tend to avoid preying on stinging insects like wasps, hornets, and bees (Brown et al., 2021). Bats have sensitive wing membranes that could be easily damaged by the stingers of these insects, so they have likely evolved to typically steer clear of them when possible.

However, some species like the hoary bat and red bat may occasionally eat small numbers of bees and wasps when other insects like moths and flies are less abundant. But generally, insectivorous bats seem to know better than to purposely go after something that can sting them.

Some Bats Do Eat Wasps and Bees

While North American bats avoid them, there are a few bat species elsewhere in the world that have adapted to regularly eat stinging insects, especially stingless bees (Bohmann et al., 2019). For example, the Lesser Dawn bat is known to consume bees and wasps with less risk of injury due to having thicker wing skin for protection.

Additionally, a 2019 study found evidence that two rare bat species in South America may feed almost exclusively on wild wasps and bees, likely locating hives and nests by scent (Aguiar et al., 2019).

So while uncommon, bats can and do take advantage of these stinging insects in certain parts of the world.

Bats Crucial for Controlling Insect Populations

While wasps and bees represent a very small portion of bats’ diets, insect-eating bats provide valuable organic pest control by feasting on enormous numbers of night-flying insects like beetles, moths, mosquitos, and more.

With bats consuming astonishing quantities of insects daily, their presence significantly reduces insect populations that can damage crops and spread disease. So while wasps and bees aren’t usually on the bat menu, these creatures still provide critically important natural services.

How Bats Hunt and Capture Prey

Using Echolocation to Detect Prey

Bats have developed a highly effective technique called echolocation to locate and hunt down prey while flying. They emit ultrasonic pulses and listen to the returning echoes to build up a mental “sound picture” of their surroundings (NPS, 2023).

The time it takes to receive the echo helps them determine an object’s location, size, shape, and texture. This allows bats to detect food sources and swoop down to capture them.

Some species can locate objects as fine as a human hair in complete darkness. While insect-eating bats have excellent echolocation and mainly target flying insects (Altringham et al., 2014), certain large bats can even pick up tiny ripples on ponds and streams to identify jumping fish or disturbances caused by frogs and aquatic insects.

Capturing Prey in Flight

Bats have light skeletal structures and special flight membranes that enable them to carry out tight aerial maneuvers to grab fast-moving prey. They have delicate, wingtip talons and long thumbless fingers with pointed claws to snatch insects out of the air.

Their wide gape allows them to trap prey nearly the same size as their own skulls.

Some species have evolved specialized techniques like aerial dogfighting maneuvers to pursue insect swarms. Others sweep their tail membranes below to scoop up groups of insects on water surfaces. Ocassionally, bats also pluck disabled insects from spiderwebs or vegetation.

Consuming Their Meals in Mid-Air or in Roosts

Many bats eat their insect prey while still in flight by crushing it with their sharp teeth and gulping down bits and pieces. Certain fish-eating bats carry prey back to night roosts to share the catch with roostmates.

Vampire bats have razor sharp front teeth to make tiny cuts on prey to lap up the blood oozing out.

Megabats mainly feed on fruit, nectar and pollen. They hold morsels in their wingtips and transfer them to the mouth for consumption. Leaf-nosed bats can survive solely on juice extracted from punching holes into fruits using their blade-like tooth protuberances.

Why Understanding Bat Diets Matters

Supporting Bat Conservation Efforts

Bats play a vital role in maintaining healthy ecosystems, yet many bat species face population declines due to habitat loss, disease, and climate change. By understanding what bats eat, we can better support conservation efforts to protect these ecologically important mammals.

For example, some tropical bats act as primary seed dispersers for fig trees and other plants. Loss of these bats could significantly disrupt plant reproduction and threaten sensitive ecosystems. Understanding which plant and animal species rely on bats helps identify critical habitat areas in need of preservation.

Providing suitable roosting sites, limiting pesticide use which can contaminate prey species, and preserving connected habitat corridors all emerge as conservation priorities when we recognize bats’ integral connections with other wildlife.

Appreciating Bats’ Role in Controlling Insect Populations

A single insectivorous bat species can consume staggering numbers of insects nightly. The Mexican free-tailed bat eats an estimated two-thirds its body weight in crop pests and other insects every night.

With heightened concerns about declines in flying insect biomass and the role of insects in pollinating crops, understanding bats’ dietary needs provides clues on how best to bolster their populations as natural agents of insect control.

Promoting organic farming, facilitating bat access to livestock facilities, and creating backyard habitats can support robust bat colonies while reducing needs for chemical pesticides.

Bats’ predation of wasps specifically can also make certain outdoor areas safer and more comfortable for human recreation. Documenting this element of chiropteran diets leads to straightforward actions citizens can take, like installing “bat boxes” to attract colonies.

Conclusion

Bats have adapted to feast on a wide range of food sources, from fruits and nectar to insects and small vertebrates. While wasps and bees make up only a small part of most bat species’ diets, bats do play a crucial role in controlling populations of stinging insects.

Understanding the nuances of different bats’ feeding habits can help us support conservation efforts and appreciate the vital ecological niches bats fill.

The next time you see bats swooping around at dusk, take a moment to admire these amazing creatures of the night. With their voracious insect appetites, bats provide natural pest control and help keep ecological balances in check.