Do Bats Eat Bees? Animal Beach

Bats are widely known and interesting creatures in the world. When we see them, they always scare us. However, bats have a bad reputation among humans, but they play a significant role in the Earth’s ecosystem.

Bees are mammals, have powerful wings, and fly at high speed. They also make sounds that can be heard for long distances. Bat’s primary diet comes from insects. According to some research, they eat 1,000 insects in an hour at night and 10,000 insects in the whole night. So, here is our main topic “Do bats eat bees?

Bats do not eat bees because most bat species are nocturnal, and most bee species are diurnal. According to some research, bats come out at night while bees come in the day.

So, the answer is revealed but we have to go insights into the topic and will try to find any possibility if these creepy creatures can eat the little cute flies.

Also Read: Do Bats Eat Mice?

Do Bats Eat Bees?

Sometimes bats’ diet depends on the location where they live. But, the majority of bat species’ diet comes from insects. The total species of bats in the world is 14,000, and all eat insects.

Researchers claim that 70% of the diet of bats comes from insects. The other food sources of bats are fruits, seeds, and flowers. Bats and bees also play an essential role in growing different plants. For example, in the United States, without the help of these creatures, over 70% of plants will vanish.

Bee master Cheryl said I have both bees and bats, and they do not cross their paths. Everything is fine between them.

Michael Bush, Bee Source, said that I have bats everywhere. Bats come out at night, and bees come out during the day. So, according to their theory, bats do not eat bees.

The nature of our beautiful world completely comprises discoveries and surprises. Different species adopt different lifestyles to get away from competition and predation. Recent studies also show that some bat and bee species change their habits.

When A Bat Can Attack Bees?

Rather than bats are not main eaters of bees but still some factors are involved that can allow bats to hunt bees. Let’s take a look.

Habitat Overlap

In the case of sharing a habitat, bats can eat bees. They can target the garden area at night where bees take a rest. Researches claim that such incidents occur in the North American region.

Unpredicting Bee Night Activity

Sometimes, bees activate at night time in case of have a light resource. This often happens around us, domestically. At night, bees do an activity around the lights where a bat can easily attack them. Lizards are also active at that time and hunt bees.

Bee Hives Near Bat living areas also allow them to attack bees. So, this is also a factor that can allow a bat to hunt a bee.

Is It Safe For A Bat To Eat Bee?

Sometimes, hunting bees can cause unpredict happenings to bats. It is because bees own fascinating adaptations against predators such as venomous stings but what about bats? Bats can absorb the pain of their sting and also have the ability to get immune against their venom. So, it is not more dangerous for bats to attack bees.

How Bats Locate Bees?

Just using their echolocation ability, a bat can easily detect a bee. The buzzing sound of the bee’s wing is enough for a bat to detect this little less dangerous creature.

Can Bats Eat Carpenter Bees?

When people see carpenter bees, they consider them bumblebees. But they are different from bumblebees; they are entirely black-skinned. Yet, these bees have different tail colors. The Carpenter bee’s tail section has shiny black.

Carpenter bees are very famous for their unique nesting. They make their tunnel nest into plant matter such as bamboo and wood. Almost all species of carpenter bees are diurnal. But, the Indian carpenter bees are not diurnal.

Indian carpenter bees are excellent because they adapt themselves to fly on the darkest nights. This exceptional talent is unique for any kind of bee. This particular bee has huge photoreceptors which help them see in the dark. According to some theories, the bats attacked the carpenter bees.

Can Bats Eat Honey Bees?

Honeybees are native to Eurasia. They are famous for making their nest with honey. They enjoy living in the hives. Honeybees are divided into three kinds.

There is a queen who leads the whole hive. Then workers come; the workers are females that forage the food, protect and build the hive. The third kind is drones. Drones are males and do only one work: mating with the queen.

The majority of honeybee species fly in during the day except for the African and giant honeybees. These bees come out at night only if the moon also comes out.

So, African and giant bees come out at night and are likely to cross paths with bats. So bats may attack them.

Some Other Bees Predators:

Shrunks:

Shrunk’s main diet comes from insects. But bees are their favorite food. They always target the bees directly and eat them. They always suck the bees and spit out the parts which they do not like.

Bears:

As you see in the film Mowgli, that bear is like honey. The bears will get the whole hive if they get any chance. Bears always look for honey, and they like it very much but not the bees.

Sometimes, they eat bees and larvae of the hive to get more protein. Bears are giant animals, and due to their height and strength, they do massive damage to bee hives.

Wasps:

Wasps are also dangerous predators of bees. Wasps always look for the small hive. They target the small hive, kill the bees and get all the honey for their children. Wasps are much more giant than bees. So, it needs five bees to kill one wasp.

Bee-eater Birds:

Bee-eater birds mostly live in Africa, Asia, and in Europe. The main diet of these birds is insects, but they mostly eat bees and wasps.

They catch the bees in the air and hit them on the ground to remove the string and venom. But bee-eater birds do not attack the beehives.

Conclusion:

Bats and bees live their lives in totally different ways. When bats fly, most bee species are resting. Yet, the killing rate of these two species is shallow. Bat’s main diet comes from insects, and they might kill the bee species that come out at night. But researchers denied this fact.

FAQs:

Can Bats Eat Bees?

Bats do not eat bees because bats and bees live in entirely different ways. Bats come out at night, and bees come in the days.

What do bats eat?

Bats are mammals, and their main diet comes from insects. Bats eat 14,000 insects in one night.

What are the main predators of bees?

There are many predators of bees, such as bears, wasps, shrunk, etc.