Last month, we started a new series to profile different bats that we come across in our line of work. Back in our first profile, we talked about the Mexican free-tailed bat and how common it is in North and South America.
This time, I’d like to talk about another bat that’s very common in these regions: the big brown bat. Following is some of the fascinating information we’ve learned about big brown bats over the years!
Big Brown Bat
The big brown bat (scientific name Eptesicus fuscus) is common throughout the Western hemisphere, starting in southern Canada and extending through the continental United States and Mexico into northern South America, as well as the West Indies.
The reason it’s called the “big brown bat” is because it’s a bat that’s big and brown. In all seriousness, this bat is considered fairly large for an American bat, which is why it’s distinguished as big. It also has beautiful brownish-copper fur on its back, along with lighter brown fur on its belly, which is why it’s known as brown.
The big brown bat lives in all kinds of habitats and environments, making it one of the most versatile bat species. While it sometimes lives in caves, the big brown bat can also be found in other natural environments like farmlands, forests, meadows, and mountains. As for human-occupied regions, the big brown bat is comfortable in public parks, neighborhoods, and a wide variety of other man-made structures (which is where we come in).
They usually live for eighteen to twenty years, with the male possessing a slightly longer lifespan than the female. They’re social bats that roost in tight groups of five to five hundred. One cool fact about them is their speed, which has been recorded at forty miles per hour!
Like other bats, the big brown bat loves to eat insects. These bats feast on beetles primarily, but also eat corn rootworms, a serious agricultural pest. In fact, one of the reasons we like to humanely exclude bats is because they perform such a crucial function for farming—each bat eats thousands of insects per night!
We hope you see the tremendous benefit and wonder of the big brown bat. If you discover this or any other bat in your home or office building, please give us a call so we can relocate the bats humanely. We can make sure they are safe while also ensuring that your bat problem is resolved, once and for all!
Your local bat removal expert,
Michael Koski
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