Post #4304666 · Elektrine

2026-07-20 16:13 UTC

If a bat that weighs 7 g eats half its body mass in insects every night (typical), I think that works out to 1400 mosquitoes needed based on a 2.5 mg mosquito. So more than 2 mosquitoes every minute if hunting for 10 hours. [Please check my math.] Doable, perhaps, in a room packed with thousands of mosquitoes but in the real world that bat would starve to death. Because it takes more energy to find and hunt down a tiny fly than it gets from the fly. Small bats DO eat mosquitoes but never enough to be important in control. My 2 cents.

Replies (5)

@colinpurrington@flipping.rocks 2026-07-20 19:20

And as far as I know, nobody has ever photographed a bat catching a mosquito in the wild.

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@etp@indieweb.social 2026-07-20 18:36

@colinpurrington@flipping.rocks Now do flycatchers.

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@deirdrebeth@mas.to 2026-07-20 19:24

@colinpurrington@flipping.rocks I imagine, like possoms, that they're happy to eat mosquitos in the course of their lives but don't focus on them. OTOH, if articles like that make more people happy to see bats in their neighborhoods, it's a win all around.

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@grammasaurus@mastodon.social 2026-07-20 19:40

@colinpurrington@flipping.rocks I’m not gonna check your math because it sounds solid, but if not bats, then what IS eating mosquitoes?

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@mycrowgirl@flipping.rocks 2026-07-20 20:06

@colinpurrington@flipping.rocks the types of insects consumed also varies pretty drastically even between similar looking species in the same environment. I went down the rabbit hole of data tables based on fecal samples and necropsies when researching micro chiropteran neonate formulas, and they tend to enjoy a well rounded buffet of insects within their respective niches! That said I still cackle like mad every time I release one to join the local anti-bitey air squad.

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