The Golden State is known for its cool waves, sunny summers, and scenic roads. Add bats to that equation because California just adopted one as a state symbol.
Governor Newsom signed Senate Bill 732, to officially make the Pallid bat the official bat of the state of California.
“By naming the Pallid as state bat, Californians can become more knowledgeable on our diverse ecosystems and wildlife while increasing respect for the many benefits bats provide for our state,” said Menjivar.
These little guys weigh 0.7-1.2 oz (20-35g) and have a wingspan of 15-16 in (37-41 cm), per the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum. They can be identified by their yellowish-brown to cream-colored fur on their back and white fur belly.
They eat crickets, scorpions, centipedes, ground beetles, grasshoppers, cicadas, praying mantis and long-horned beetles, and have been known to eat a lizard or rodent at times. What’s unique about these critters is that they hunt their prey almost exclusively on the ground; normal bats hunt while in flight.
They can even eat half of their body weight in one night and live up to 10 years in the wild.
The bill says that bats provide more than $1,000,000,000 worth of pest control to California agriculture.
Antrozous pallidus is the bat’s scientific name
