(But not great houseguests)
It’s silly to call someone “blind as a bat” since bats are not blind at all.
Carrie McClelland is the lead education and outreach biologist with the Government of Yukon’s Department of Environment. Going Batty! is her favourite interpretive program of the season (she convinces everyone to fall in love with bats).
The Yukon is home to little brown bats, one of the most widespread species of bats in Canada. They live as far north as Dawson City, which is particularly impressive when you consider that they only come out at night. That’s hard to do in the Land of the Midnight Sun.
What is a bat?
Bats are unique in the animal world: the only mammal that can fly. With over 1,100 species of bats in the world, they are found in all kinds of ecosystems, from rainforests to deserts. Some species eat only fruit, others specialize in eating scorpions or snakes, while a few species drink blood. Yukon bats eat only insects—particularly mosquitoes!
Little brown bats can live more than 30 years but only give birth to one pup a year. They roost under loose tree bark, hollow trees and rock crevices. They really love old cabins and human-made structures.
Males are solitary while females roost together in nursery colonies of 20 to 200 bats. They return to the same roost every year, so biologists are able to monitor a colony for decades.
They’re not blind, it’s just dark
It’s silly to call someone “blind as a bat” since bats are not blind at all. While their eyesight is perfectly fine, they do hunt at night. So instead of relying on their eyes, they use echolocation to hunt their prey. Just like sonar, they send out a sound and listen for it to bounce back. The echo tells them everything they need to know about the size, location and type of object the sound hits. Using this method, a colony of little brown bats can eat almost 20 kilograms of insects in a season.
While bats are on their hunt, they might swoop close to you. If this happens, no need to panic; they are hunting the mosquitoes that are hunting you.
What to do if you find a bat
While echolocation is very effective, sometimes even bats get confused. Young bats who are just learning might get disoriented and collide with windows and trees, or fall to the ground while learning to fly.
If you find a bat on the ground or inside somewhere it shouldn’t be, there are some precautions you should take before intervening. Although bats aren’t known to attack people, little brown bats have a lot of teeth and can bite if you pick them up. Always wear personal protective gear, such as thick leather gloves, to scoop it into a box or container.
Bats are not good at taking off from the ground, so it’s best to place the bat in a tree where it can rest and then swoop down and fly off when it’s ready. Sweep up any guano (poop) and toss it on the lawn—good fertilizer!
If you find a group of bats in your attic or cabin, you likely have a nursery colony of female bats and their pups. Bats provide great pest control around a property but are not great houseguests. They smell bad.
The only thing you can do, this time of year, is to watch carefully at dusk to note where the bats are getting in and out. Mark those spots with tape, but don’t block it off; otherwise, you’ll trap the pups inside and they’ll die. Wait until October when you can be sure the bats have migrated south for winter, then carefully block off those entrances.
Little brown bats return to the same roost every year, so those same bats will be back next spring, looking for a way in. Be sure to plug up even the smallest crack. They are tiny!
At the same time, install a bat house on your property, in the fall, to encourage returning bats to stick around the property and provide free mosquito removal (without wearing out their welcome).
By Carrie McClelland
Go to bat for bats
You can learn more about little brown bats from the Wildlife Viewing Program. Pick up a copy of our Yukon bats booklet or participate in one of our Going Batty interpretive programs, to see a little brown bat up close. Biologists will be on-site to demonstrate how we trap bats, take measurements and put tracking tags on them before releasing them.Or visit yukon.ca/en/outdoor-recreation-and-wildlife/yukon-wildlife/little-brown-bat to learn more about Yukon’s little brown bats!
Little Brown Bat
- The scientific name for little brown bat is Myotis lucifugus.
- Little brown bat babies are called pups.
- A bat house can host as many as 200 bats.
- What do little brown bats and squirrels have in common? Both eat for the winter months.
- What do submarines and little brown bats have in common? Sonar!
- Little brown bats love living in Canada … but not in Nunavut (Sorry, Nunavut!).
- These bats are an endangered species in our country.
- Visit hww.ca/wildlife/mammals/little-brown-bat to see a video of little brown bats.
- Visit yukon.ca/sites/default/files/env/env-yukon-bats-2023.pdf for FREE Yukon bats book
