Bats: Nature's Agricultural Allies
Bat colonies living in the roofs of farm buildings are at best a barely tolerable nuisance to many farmers. What they overlook is the fact that bats are the major predators of night-flying insects, including many that are important agricultural pests.
An Egyptian Slit Faced Bat (Image sourced from www.arkive.org)
Some 70% of the world's almost 1000 species of bats eat insects. Bats display a fascinating variety of adaptations for feeding on different groups of insects. Species of slit-faced bats have long ears to detect the sounds made by crickets and other sound-producing insects and their wing-shape enables slow flight and hovering while snatching stationary insects off surfaces. They also use "stealth-bomber"-type sonar (echolocation) calls to locate these insects without being heard. Other bats catch insects in the air, some in open spaces, others in dense vegetation, often using the wing or tail membrane as a scoop.
Holy flying fox! It's a nursery for orphaned bats