Hinterland Who's Who - Featured Species

Featured Species - Bats!

Pallid bat
Photo: M.B. Fenton

• 19 recorded species of bats in Canada
• Canadian bats can live more than 30 years
• are primarily nocturnal creatures
• are not blind

The only mammal to fly, bats in Canada prowl the night skies for insects — their only prey — using echolocation, sending out sound waves to find objects in their path. In the fall in Canada, when weather conditions become harsher and the insect food supply disappears, bats resort to some combination of migration and hibernation.

You can help bats in your backyard by reducing the use of pesticides, building a bat house or by being cautious of their habitat since habitat loss is one of the main threats to bats’ survival. To learn more about bats, watch the HWW video or get your own bat poster from CWF.

Here are a few ways how to Get Out:

Camp out in your backyard.
Discover new wildlife.
Do a little gardening.
Hike a trail—and take the family along.
Explore the woods, no matter how small they are.

And, that’s just a start! Watch HWWTube's webisode, “Get Out!”.” Browse through different activities in our “Get Out and Experience Nature by Season” activity list. Check out WILD education’s “Explore and Embrace a Wild Place Lesson Plan” or HWW’s teacher’s resource “Get Out in the Field!”