Family: Vespertilionidae, Vespertilionid Bats view all from this family
Description Males bright red or orange-red; females dull red, brick, or chestnut. In East, both sexes frosted white on back and breast; in West, rusty-red coloration on back, fewer frosted hairs. Whitish patch on each shoulder in both sexes. Ears small and rounded; tragus small. Interfemoral membrane furred above; in West, much less hair on posterior margin. L 3 3/8-5" (87-126 mm); T 1 3/8-2 3/8" (35-62 mm); HF 1/4-1/2" (6-13 mm); FA 1 3/8-1 5/8" (34-42 mm); E 3/8-1/2" (9-14 mm); Wt 1/4-5/8 oz (7-19 g).
Warning Bats are susceptible to rabies, a serious viral disease that results in death if untreated. Rabid bats rarely attack humans or other animals, but bats found lying on the ground may be rabid. Never touch or pick up any bat. Stay away from any animal that seems to be acting strangely and report it to animal-control officers. If you are bitten by a possibly rabid animal, you must immediately consult a doctor for a series of injections; there is no cure once symptoms emerge.
Similar Species Hoary Bat is larger, browner, more frosted. Seminole Bat is deep mahogany brown. Yellow bats are yellowish, with fur only on basal half of interfemoral membrane, none on outer half.
Breeding Mates in fall, apparently often on the wing. 2-4 young born among foliage about mid-June.
Habitat Forests, forest edges, and hedgerows. Roosts among foliage, usually in trees.
Range From se British Columbia south to Baja California, and across s Canada and most of U.S.
Discussion By day, this solitary bat hangs 4 to 10 feet (1-3 m) above the ground among dense foliage that provides shade from above and at the sides but is open below, allowing a downward fall into flight. Emerging early in the evening, these fast fliers often use the same route each night in foraging for many kinds of insects, especially moths, beetles, plant hoppers, leafhoppers, ants, and flies. On two different occasions, radio-tracking of females for several nights in Indiana revealed that the bats would remain in the same general vicinity of 2 acres (1 ha) or so, but would roost in different trees on different nights. It is possible to identify the Red Bat, one of the few mammals in which coloration differs between male and female, on the wing before dusk. Occasionally it alights on vegetation to pluck off insects. Red bats commonly have three or four offspring at a time, and are the only bats with four nipples. Females with young usually roost 10 to 20 feet (3-6 m) off the ground. While evidence indicates that the young are not carried about during flight, females with young attached are often found on the ground; most likely they have been blown down or scared out of a tree by a predator and were unable to take off due to the weight of the young. This species migrates, often in flocks, to the southern parts of its range for the winter, where it hibernates. It sometimes emerges from hibernation on warm days, but whether it feeds at these times in the northern parts of its range has yet to be determined. It does feed in winter in the Dismal Swamp of Virginia and North Carolina.
