Most rodents are potent chewers. Critters like rats, mice and squirrels love to chew through whatever is available to them. They will gnaw on wood, wires, metal, and whatever else they can find. It is just in their nature to do so. However, not every rodent is like, and that includes the Buffalo bat.



Bats have some of the sharpest and scariest teeth in the whole animal kingdom. Despite how they are presented in movies as basically vultures swooping down on anything that moves, then biting at the animal until they have it under their complete control, this is not the case at all. Bats are really New York animals that love to eat insects, some only eat berries, and so the myth simply is not the case.

It is also true that Hollywood has gotten a bit over the top with their presentation of bats as animals that will gnaw or chew through anything. There are a couple of famous movies in the 70s and 80s where bats were swarming through the Southwest attacking and killing people's livestock (simply not the case). In these movies the scientists decided to create a giant mesh of wire that they would hide in that was electrified. When the Buffalo bats landed on the metal mesh they would turn on the juice and kill the vampires by shocking them to death.

Of course the plan was doomed to fail – at first. The Buffalo bats that first arrived chewed through the mesh and bit on the electrical wiring until they had rendered the plan moot until an alternative was created that worked. This may make for great Hollywood theatre, but the truth is that this is all that it is. Bats simply do not chew through things. It is not part of their nature, and movies that present them otherwise are pure fabrication. It is surprising that they do not chew through things as other New York rodents do. They have very sharp teeth just like most rodents, but their teeth and nature simply does not make them prone to chew on objects. They are just not interested in doing so.

It is clear that this makes for exciting movies and really sells in Hollywood, but no one should be too worried that a Buffalo bat will eat through the wiring in their home should the bat get into their attic. There are other things to worry about with this creature, but this is not one of them.

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