Let’s celebrate International Bat Night together

Turn on your echolocation and discover the underground world of Barać Caves!

Want to find out what it’s like to live upside down? Join us for the celebration of the International Bat Night, which has been marked in our country since 1997. Last weekend in August is reserved for the world’s flying mammals! 

Although many abhor these cute creatures, they are one of the most endangered, persecuted, and understudied group of mammals. There are more than 1,300 species, of which as many as 35 species live in Croatia and are strictly protected under the Environmental Protection Act. In addition to being cute – at least once you get to know them better – they are extremely important to our ecosystem. They are an important link in the chain of regeneration of tropical forests – they take over the night shift from bees and pollinate a number of plants that bloom at night, take care of insects active at night and thus represent an indicator of environmental health. 

Visit Barać Caves during the International Bat Night and find out all sorts of interesting things about these unusual creatures! 

Bat, bat, come under my hat : Trivia from the world of darkness

• Bats in Croatia feed exclusively on insects and spiders – their menu mainly includes mosquitoes and pests living on farming land and in forests. They inhabit all our ecosystems, and we know that the greater the number of species in some area, the better the health index of the area. 
• Some species live in caves, some in forests, some in above-ground structures such as houses, residential buildings, churches, and castles, and some change shelters depending on their annual cycle.

• Bats are threatened by the loss of shelter and the shrinking of their hunting ground. The bats depend on humans for their survival, so watch over them because they watch over you too!
• They live very long lives, some longer than 40 years, but have one pup per year, and their mortality rate is more than 50%, so the populations of certain species do not recover easily.  Most species mate in late summer and autumn, and the pregnancy begins to develop only in the spring with the onset of warmer weather.
• The smallest of bat species is the Kitti’s hog-nosed bat – it weighs no more than 2 grams. The largest is the giant golden-crowned flying fox – it weighs up to 1.1 kg. The large flying fox is the one with the largest wingspan, sometimes spanning more than 1.5 m. 
• Most species of bats orient themselves with the help of echolocation and thus recognize prey like insects, but also fruits and flowers they pollinate.
• What to do if a bat enters your house? Leave the window open, draw the curtains wide, turn off the lights and sounds in the room, and the bat will find its way out on its own. It won’t attack you – it is definitely more scared than you are!