With the news that H.E. Cayman Islands Governor Duncan Taylor has installed a bat house on the grounds of Government House along Seven Mile Beach, the National Trust for the Cayman Islands has warned about the dwindling numbers of bats.

Bat houses help to replace some of the homes they have lost due to deforestation and repeated disturbance of caves. The bat house at Government House has been erected on the top of a 30-foot post in the rear gardens facing Seven Mile Beach.

*Bats are thought to have evolved 60 million years ago, however, the oldest fossil found in Cayman to date is 14,000 years old. They are the only mammals that can truly fly. They are extremely vulnerable to extinction because they bear only one baby (or pup) per year and because they often live in large colonies that can easily be wiped out by one misguided or uninformed act. As our only native mammal, bats are of vital importance to a balanced ecology. They perform many crucial functions such as controlling night-flying insects, including many kinds of crop pests and mosquitoes. They also pollinate hundreds of plants such as the agaves, silk cotton, naseberry, vine pear, neem, cactus and calabash. In addition, bats disperse seeds throughout the islands, helping to keep our forests healthy and diverse.

There are nine species of bats in the Cayman Islands, each specialising in a different type of food and each with a different role in the ecosystem. One of these species, the Brown Bat, is present in two separate subspecies. Based upon its smaller size and darker coloured fur, the Grand Cayman Brown Bat is considered to be an endemic (locally unique) subspecies and has not yet been named. All of our other subspecies are found only in the Caribbean.

Unfortunately, misinformation still abounds about bats. Although some have little, mousy tails and most are small and brown, they are actually more closely related to monkeys than to mice. Bats are mammals in the family Chiroptera which means “hand-wing.” Their single pups are slow to mature and demand much maternal care and attention. Interestingly, an adult bat can live up to 30 years of age. There are over 1,200 species of bats world-wide and they are as different from each other as lions are from house cats.

Bats in the Cayman Islands carry no diseases and rabies is not found here. They are not interested in tangling in your hair and they are not vampires! In fact, there are no vampire bats in the Cayman Islands. While some Caribbean islands do have a bat known as a “vampire,” this tiny creature is mainly a pest to cattle ranchers.

Only two of our nine bat species eat cultivated fruit. Fruit Bats also eat pollen and nectar and are of benefit because they pollinate fruit trees and other indigenous plants. Twenty-five percent of a Fruit Bat’s diet is made up of insects found on or around fruit trees. These bats also eat overripe fruits missed by pickers and wild fruits that would otherwise rot and provide breeding grounds for fungi, fruit flies and other pests. In places where Fruit Bat populations have been eliminated, fruit losses actually increased, sometimes to the point where the farming of soft-skinned fruits had to be abandoned. Fruit bats are too large to use bat houses, which are designed for insect-eating species. The National Trust has information to help farmers protect their fruit from damage by bats.

Caves provide crucial habitats for bats. Cave visitors should be calm and quiet and never shine flashlights or camera strobes on sleeping bats. Entering caves inhabited by bats during the spring or early summer months when newborn baby bats are present, can cause the mother bats to abandon the roost, and flightless young bats may die as a result.

One of the most common species, the Velvety Free-tailed Bat, is often found in roof spaces where the droppings can eventually cause odour problems. With the generous co-operation of Caribbean Utilities Co. Ltd. (CUC), the National Trust has erected over 40 bat houses on utility poles all over Grand Cayman (Cayman Brac has little need for bat houses because there are so many crevices in the Bluff). These bat houses provide an alternative habitat and help to keep bats from moving back into human structures. The Cayman Islands is one of only two countries in the world to attract Velvety Free-tailed Bats to bat houses and our programme is proving highly successful and is a model for the rest of the Caribbean. Bat houses are still experimental in the tropics and the National Trust is trying several new designs. The Trust provides free property inspections and advice about how to remove bats safely and permanently from roof spaces.

The following are brief descriptions of the bats found in the Cayman Islands.

Brown Bat Eptesicus fuscus dutertreus eats insects and is found on Cayman Brac, Cuba and the Bahamas. It sometimes lives in roof spaces and will use bat houses, though, so far no Cayman Islands bat houses have been occupied by this species. Rare.

Brown Bat Eptesicus fuscus spp. nov. eats insects and is endemic to Grand Cayman. This means that it is found nowhere else in the world. It is the smallest of all the Brown Bats. It was once found on Cayman Brac, but is now extinct there. Very Rare.

Velvety Free-tailed Bat Molossus molossus tropidorhynchus eats insects and is found on Cuba, Grand Cayman and Cayman Brac. This bat emerges at dusk. It may be our most important species because it is so numerous and has enormous impact upon insect populations. We hope to never find out what would happen here without this bat! Common.

Brazilian Free-tailed Bat Tadarida brasiliensis muscula eats insects and is found only on Cuba and Grand Cayman, though other subspecies of this bat are common from Central America and the southern United States. 30,000 of these bats once inhabited the large cave at Old Man Bay on Grand Cayman. Today there are none possibly due to vandalism and constant disturbance. Rare.

Big-eared Bat Macrotus waterhousii minor eats insects and is found on Cuba, Bahamas, Grand Cayman, Cayman Brac and Little Cayman. This bat flies lower and slower than most other local species and feeds on larger, slower-moving insects like cockroaches, beetles, moths and even sleeping dragonflies. They can manoeuvre among thick leaves and tree branches and will actually take caterpillars and other night-time garden pests directly from the leaves of bougainvillea and other landscaping plants. Rare.

Caribbean Fruit Bat Artibeus jamaicensis parvipes eats fruit and is found in Cuba, Bahamas, Turks and Caicos, Grand Cayman, Cayman Brac and Little Cayman. This is our largest bat and feeds mainly on wild fruits, dispersing seeds throughout the islands. It emerges several hours after sunset. Often piles of chewed Indian almond tree seeds or Christmas palm berries can be found under feeding roosts. This bat can cause staining on the sides of buildings from its droppings as it flies around, and can also sometimes be a crop pest. The National Trust has information available to help solve these problems. Once common but rare since Hurricane Ivan.

Buffy Flower Bat Erophylla sezekorni eats pollen, nectar and occasionally small insects. It lives only in Jamaica, Grand Cayman and Cayman Brac. It has a long nose and a long sticky tongue like a hummingbird. This amazing little bat pollinates night-blooming jasmine and all the beautiful column cactus and agaves plants that grow on the Bluff on Cayman Brac. These bats are known to be highly intolerant of human disturbance and should never be disturbed in their caves. Very Rare.

White-shouldered Bat Phyllops falcatus eats fruit, mainly figs, and is sometimes called the Fig-eating Bat. Another common name is Falcate-winged Bat because of an unusual curved feature in the shape of the last bone in the wing. There is also a translucent membrane on the edge of the wing that is unique to this species. It lives only in Cuba, Hispaniola, Grand Cayman and Cayman Brac. This species is extremely rare and elusive. It had not been seen in the Cayman Islands since the early 1900s, though its bones had been found in owl feeding roosts. Wildlife biologist, Ms. Anne Louise Band rediscovered the White-shouldered Bat in a small remnant patch of forest in Lower Valley in April of 2000. White-shouldered Bats live in trees in small groups of no more than five individuals. Caribbean endemic, Very Rare.

Antillean Nectar Bat Brachyphylla nana nana eats fruit, nectar, pollen and small insects. It lives only in Cuba and Grand Cayman. Other subspecies are found on Hispaniola and Grand (Middle) Caicos. They have big feet and flexible toes for climbing about in fruit trees. They have rounded snouts and look like tiny flying piglets. No roosting sites for this bat have ever been found, though they are known to live in caves. Very Rare.

Red Bat Lasiurus – species unknown eats insects. The first Red Bat seen in the Cayman Islands was photographed hanging alone in a Sweetwood tree in 1999. The fur exactly matched the colour of the drying brownish-red leaves. Before that it was unrecorded here and remains extremely rare, with two more individuals being captured in the Queen Elizabeth II Botanic Park in April of 2000. It is not know if these bats are recent arrivals, or if they have always been here. They roost alone in foilage and are the only bats known to commonly give birth to more than one pup at a time. New record, very rare.

* From http://www.nationaltrust.org.ky/index.php/info-sheets/bats

Paul Watler, environmental programmes manager of the National Trust, says, “Many people believe bats spread diseases, or they drink blood, or that they cause damage to people’s homes. In fact, the diseases commonly associated with bats in other countries do not exist in Cayman. “Many people believe that bats spread diseases, or they drink blood, or that they cause damage to people’s homes. In fact, the diseases commonly associated with bats in other countries do not exist in Cayman, vampire bats do not occur here and bats do not damage homes,””