Wildlife Facts You Should Know

Bats in British Columbia

These nocturnal furry mammals perform invaluable ecological roles: pollinating flowers, dispersing fruit seeds and, in their role as predators, keeping insect populations in check. Sixteen species live in B.C. British Columbia's bats are the most important natural predator of night flying insects. They consume about half their weight in a wide variety of insects every night.

Since bats have very few natural enemies, human activity can have the most detrimental impact on bat populations. The most crucial of all bat habitats - undisturbed, temperature stable hibernation sites in mines and caves - are increasingly invaded, mostly through recreational exploring.

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