5 Surprising Ways Bats Help the Environment

Bats are among the most misunderstood animals on Earth — and yet, they’re essential to the health of our environment. These quiet creatures support ecosystems that humans rely on every day. Here’s why protecting bat habitat matters for us all: 

1. They’re nature’s pest control.
A single bat can eat thousands of insects in a night, reducing the need for chemical pesticides. By protecting bat roosting and foraging habitats near farms, forests, and wetlands, we help farmers, ecosystems, and human communities thrive.

2. They’re important pollinators.
In warm and arid regions of the southwestern U.S., nectar-feeding bats pollinate desert plants like agave and saguaro cactus — species that define their landscapes and support local biodiversity.

3. They help forests regenerate.
Fruit-eating bats play a critical role in reforestation by dispersing seeds far from the parent tree — often into cleared or degraded landscapes. In parts of the world, bats are among the first species to bring plant life back to damaged ecosystems.

4. They keep ecosystems in balance.
Bats are integral to food webs. Guano (a fancy word for bat poop) enriches soil with nutrients, and their feeding patterns help control insect populations that would otherwise stress plants, trees, and crops. Conserving large, connected landscapes allows these ecosystem services to continue naturally.

5. They signal healthy environments.
Some species of bats are sensitive to pollution and habitat changes, making them key indicator species — meaning their presence (or absence) reveals the health of an ecosystem. Protecting the places that bats depend on benefits countless other species that share those environments.

Brink of Extinction 

Today, bats are under unprecedented threat from widespread habitat destruction, accelerated climate change, invasive species, and other stresses. Without targeted conservation of the lands they rely on — from forested roosts, to underground cave systems, to open feeding areas — their populations will continue to fall, driving many species toward extinction. 

This Bat Week, remember: protecting land is one of the most powerful tools we have to help bats survive — and keep our planet thriving. Protecting these places safeguards not just bats, but the rich web of life that depends on the same land and water.