what do hoary bats eat
Hawaiian hoary bats are fast, tenacious hunters that sometimes pursue moths to within six inches of the ground, making longer-distance hearing quite advantageous. Moths are the hoary bat's most common prey. In a single meal, this bat can eat up to 40 percent of its weightâ the equivalent of a 150-pound human eating 60 pounds of food. Other common prey include beetles, flies, crickets, stink bugs, and burrower bugs. The Hawaiian hoary bat is known to feed heavily on damp wood termites, which are highly destructive to wooden buildings. Several researchers have also found hoary bats eating mosquitoes. This practice is probably not typical, though the stomach of one hoary bat in Oregon was found half full of these tiny insects.