Today, the 17th of April many countries and fauna enthusiasts are celebrating Bat Appreciation Day!

To commemorate this day, Wildlife Rescue Team Malta took to social media to share the many different bats one can find in Malta.

“Today we show our appreciation to bats and how their presence in our ecosystem is beneficial to everyone”, they wrote.

The full list of bats that have been spotted in Malta at some point of another is as follows:

1. The Common pipstrelle (Pipistrellus pipistrellus)
2. The Savi's pipstrelle (Hypsugo savii)
3. The Kuhl's pipistrelle (Pipstrellus kuhlii)
4. The Maghrebian mouse-eared bat (Myotis punicus)
5. The Greater and Lesser Horseshoe bats (Rhinolophus ferrumequinum and Rhinolophus hipposideros)
6. The Soprano pipstrelle (Pipistrellus pygmaeus)
7. The Noctule (Nyctalus noctula)
8. The Gaisler's Long-eared bat (Plecotus gaisleri)
9. The Schreiber's bat (Miniopterus schreibersii)
10. The European Free-tailed bat (Tadarida teniotis, aka Tadarida insignis)

All the bats mentioned above typically sleep during the day and hunt at night, making it quite difficult to spot one.

The bats that have been spotted in Malta are also all insectivores, “meaning they will feed on insects, mostly mosquitoes and other flying insects”. This means we have bats to thank for less biting mosquitoes flying around during summer!

Nonetheless their population is declining as they only have one offspring a year. The increase of the use of insecticide is also not helping as this means that less food is available. On top of that some of their natural habitats are being destroyed in the process of demolition.

Have you ever spotted one?