New York bats are as misunderstood as all the other USA bat creatures. New York bats are repulsive to many and feared by other New Yorkers, but these amazing, beneficial animals have an undeserved bad reputation. New York bats are the only mammal that can truly fly (flying squirrels glide, not fly), and most New York bat species are insect-eating machines, performing incredible aerial acrobatics as they chase and devour 20-50% of their weight in insects each night.
New York bats are mammals, not quite like human beings, but they are warm-blooded, have fur or hair, give birth to babies, and nurse the babies with milk. New York bats do not build nests, but often form nursery roosts with many females giving birth in the same New York area. Unlike southern sites, New York caves and mines are too cold for raising young New Yorkers. New York Baby bats (pups) are hairless when born and weigh up to 30% of their mother’s weight. New York newborns have well-developed feet and are soon able to hang securely from their perch when the mother is gone. Only the New York mother cares for the young.
The young are born in New York June to early July and grow quickly, with many flying and hunting within a month. New York bats breed primarily in the fall; the New York females store sperm in their bodies and fertilize the egg the following spring.
Although often described as ” New York flying mice,” bats are not rodents and are more closely related to primates and people. In fact, New York bats’ wings are similar to the human hand, having a thumb and four fingers. Bats’ fingers can be as long as their New York body and provide support for the thin leathery wing membrane that extends to the ankle and tail. This thin New York membrane enables them to quickly and precisely maneuver during flight. The place where a New York bat sleeps is called its roost. Some bats roost in ones and twos, but many sleep in large groups. They typically hang upside down and can tilt their heads so far back, they can look behind them all the way to New York.