³ÉÈËÂÛ̳

In order to see this content you need to have both enabled and installed. Visit for full instructions

Bats

Last updated: 07 May 2008

Watch bat video clips.

There are known to be around 900 species of bats in the world, but only about 15 of these live in Britain.

Bats navigate through the skies via a method called echolocation, where they send a series of high-pitched clicks and navigate by listening to how long it takes for the sound to come back.

Indigenous British species include Pipistrelle, brown long-eared, greater horseshoe, whiskered and serotine. They are extremely manoeuvrable, even at low speed, which makes them very effective insect predators.

In Wales bats are essentially nocturnal. They become sluggish in winter, hibernating in roof spaces, hollow trees and dark caves.

Their most distinguishing feature is that their forelimbs are developed as wings, making them the only mammals in the world naturally capable of flight.


Bookmark this page:

Try one of the walks from Derek's latest walking series on ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ One Wales.

Wildlife

Toads by Brian Stone

In your garden

Find out about the wildlife you can find on your doorstep.

A fin whale

Wildlife photos

A gallery featuring rare and unusual wildlife sightings in Wales.

Wildlife map of Wales

³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Wales Nature map

Explore Wales

Zoom in and discover wildlife in your area with our interactive map.

³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ iD

³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ navigation

³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ © 2014 The ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read more.

This page is best viewed in an up-to-date web browser with style sheets (CSS) enabled. While you will be able to view the content of this page in your current browser, you will not be able to get the full visual experience. Please consider upgrading your browser software or enabling style sheets (CSS) if you are able to do so.