7 spooky bat facts—right in time for Halloween

Scientific American · Jackie Flynn Mogensen · 2026-10-28 10:00 UTC

Bats deserve a little more love

Bats are not the world’s most beloved creatures. Mostly night animals, they’ve become a symbol of Halloween—associated with vampires, death and general ghoulishness. Sure, a few bat species do, in fact, feed on animal blood. Some bats have a face only a biologist could love. And yes, bats can be reservoirs of disease. But in their more than 50 million years on Earth, these maligned creatures have developed some admirable qualities, too.

For one, they’re everywhere: bats live on every continent except Antarctica. They echolocate, using sound to navigate their world—and they are the only mammal to evolve true flight. They also eat insects such as mosquitoes—contributing billions of dollars in value annually for the world’s farmers—and are critical pollinators of tropical plants.

“We need them,” says Emma Teeling, a professor and founding director of the Center for Irish Bat Research at University College Dublin.

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