@colinpurrington@flipping.rocks
Post #4118691
2026-07-20 15:38 UTC
The University of Wisconsin Department of Entomology has a nice primer on why so many people think bats (and purple martins) control mosquitoes. #bats #mosquitoes https://mosquitosite.russell.wisc.edu/preventing-mosquito-bites/bats-and-birds/
Replies (1)
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@colinpurrington@flipping.rocks 2026-07-20 16:13
If a bat that weighs 7 g eats half its body mass in insects every night (typical), I think that works out to 1400 mosquitoes needed based on a 2.5 mg mosquito. So more than 2 mosquitoes every minute if hunting for 10 hours. [Please check my math.] Doable, perhaps, in a room packed with thousands of mosquitoes but in the real world that bat would starve to death. Because it takes more energy to find and hunt down a tiny fly than it gets from the fly. Small bats DO eat mosquitoes but never enough to be important in control. My 2 cents.