LIVE WEBCAM WITH BATS FEEDING ON INSECTS

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Location: Bat World Sanctuary, Weatherford, Texas, United States
Source: www.batworld.org
Info: Live streaming webcam showing bats feeding on insects at Bat World Sanctuary in Texas, United States. Insectivorous bats represent 70% of all bat species. They play an important role in the control of insect populations, including agricultural pests.

More info: The webcam shows insectivorous bats which are adult micro bats, including free-tails, big browns and myotis bats. Their size is between 1 to 2 inches in length The bats are not able to be released in to the wild due to wing injuries or other handicaps. They will wake and come out to eat, cluster together and vigorously groom about 8 to 9pm CST. They often appear during the day to have a “midnight snack” of mealworms.

The bats live in a miniature cave with simulated rock ledges and the camera is always in night vision.

70% of all bats are insectivorous. All bats living in the United States and Canada eat insects, except 3 species of nectar-feeding bats living along the Texas-Arizona border. Bats are the only flying mammals that are active mostly at night and occur on all continents except Antarctica.

Many insectivorous bat species have suffered drastic declines in numbers due to a disease known as white-nose syndrome (WNS). This disease is caused by the fungus Pseudogymnoascus destructans and has been devastating colonies of hibernating bats in the eastern United States for several years.

Like WNS, the development of alternative energy in the form of industrial wind energy facilities is also having a harmful effect on bats through collisions with moving turbine blades. These fatal encounters often coincide with the autumn migration of bats.