Bats in southern Africa

There are nine different bat families in southern Africa. The vast majority of these bats are insect eating and the rest are fruit bats which feed on nectar or fruit. Of the 1,250 species of bats known worldwide only three are vampire bats. In Africa we do not have any vampire bats but we do have false vampire bats (unfortunately we only have one species) that eat soft and hard bodied insects.

Find out more about our bat families by clicking on the links below:

• Fruit bats (pteropodids)

• Trident and leaf-nosed bats (hipposiderids)

• Horseshoe bats (rhinolophids)

• False vampire bats (megadermatids)

• Sheath-tailed bats (emballonurids)

• Slit-faced bats (nycterids)

• Free-tailed bats (molossids)

• Long-fingered bats (miniopterids)

• Plain-faced bats (vespertilionids)