Most bats globally are insectivores, making them efficient nocturnal pest controllers. These flying mammals consume immense quantities of insects nightly, playing a substantial ecological role. Bats can eat termites, but this prey is not a regular or reliable part of their diet. Understanding the hunting mechanics and prey preferences of insectivorous bats reveals why termites are rarely a significant food source.
Why Termites Are Not a Primary Food Source
The disconnect between bat diet and termite consumption is largely due to the physical separation of their habitats. Most termites live within subterranean colonies or bore into wood, making them unavailable to common insectivorous bats. The primary foraging strategy for many species, such as the little brown bat (Myotis lucifugus), is aerial hawking, which involves capturing prey directly in mid-air. This method is ineffective against insects hidden deep within a structure or under the ground.
Termites become vulnerable to bats only during the brief swarming phase when winged reproductive adults, known as alates, take flight to establish new colonies. Bats opportunistically consume these high-energy swarmers when abundant, but this period is too short to make termites a systematic food source. A smaller number of bat species use gleaning, picking stationary insects off surfaces like leaves, bark, or the ground. However, the deep location of a termite colony usually keeps the insects out of the bat’s reach, even with this method.
The True Diet of Insectivorous Bats
The typical diet of insectivorous bats, particularly the microbats common in North America, is dominated by night-flying arthropods. Their prey consists mainly of orders like Lepidoptera (moths), Coleoptera (beetles), and Diptera (flies and mosquitoes). These larger, flying insects provide a higher caloric return for the energy expended in the hunt than smaller prey. This preference explains why a bat typically targets a beetle over a mosquito.
A single little brown bat, for example, is capable of consuming hundreds to thousands of insects in a single hour. The sheer volume consumed by a colony is impressive, with some individuals eating up to three times their body weight in insects during peak feeding times. Analyzing bat guano (droppings) confirms that agricultural pests like cutworms and armyworms (larval stages of moths) constitute a significant portion of their nightly intake.
Utilizing Bats for Natural Pest Management
Because their diet focuses heavily on nocturnal flying insects, bats provide a significant benefit to human agriculture and health through biological control. They are highly effective predators of common flying pests, including those that cause substantial crop damage. Studies estimate that the pest suppression services provided by bats save the North American agricultural industry billions of dollars annually in reduced crop damage and avoided pesticide use.
Farmers and homeowners can encourage local bat populations by installing bat houses, which provide a safe place for colonies to roost. Attracting bats creates a natural, non-chemical defense against insects in gardens and on farms. While bats are excellent general insect suppressors, they should not be relied upon as a targeted solution for an existing termite problem. Their true value lies in the mass consumption of flying insects active during the night.