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500,000 bats call world’s largest occupied bat houses at University of Florida home

By FOX 13 News Staff
Published  October 24, 2024 3:43pm EDT
Florida
FOX 13 News

Bat houses at the University of Florida

FOX 13 News.

GAINESVILLE, Fla. - The University of Florida’s campus is home to the largest occupied bat houses in the world. The two large houses that sit on Museum Road in Gainesville are home to about 500,000 bats. 

Every evening, about fifteen minutes after sunset, you can witness all those bats emerge from the houses to go feeding for the night. 

"You will literally see hundreds of thousands of bats streaming out of the bat houses," said Verity Mathis, Ph.D., the manager of the UF Mammalogy Collection. "They make these spirals coming out. It’s a really impressive site." 

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You can see the bat emergence all year long, but they are most active during the spring and summer months. Rain is the only thing that will prevent them from coming out for the night. 

Mathis said a common bat can eat its weight in mosquitoes in a night. 

"They are going to be out all over Gainesville looking for insects at night," said Mathis. "They’re providing pest management services." 

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Many people around town said they’ll experience a much lower number of mosquito bites when walking around campus at night than they would in other parts of Florida. 

Click here for more information on the bat houses. 

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