Visit the Bat Houses
The two bat houses and informational signage are located on the University of Florida campus at the UF/IFAS Field and Fork Farm and Gardens on the north side of Museum Road across from Lake Alice. Visitors are welcome to observe the bats emerging in the evenings seven days a week.
About the Houses
The bat house structures were built specifically for this site and for a large number of bats to inhabit. The houses combined are designed to house about 750,000 bats. Occupancy varies from house to house, and depends on the time of year, but there are an estimated 450,000-500,000 bats in the colony living in these houses.
About the Bats
There are 13 species of bats that live in Florida. All of the bat species that live in Florida are insectivores, meaning they eat a lot of moths, flies, wasps, ants, mosquitoes and more. They can eat their body weight in bugs every night!
Safety + Resources
Bats will sometimes swoop down towards the people watching during the evening emergence, which can be alarming if you aren’t expecting it. This is because flying insects are drawn to the carbon dioxide in human breath and the bats swoop down to eat insects. However, bats won’t attack or hurt humans unless they are seriously provoked.
