Where do bats get their terrifying reputation from?

Could this animal – which for centuries has scared the living daylights out of human beings – ironically turn out to be our saviour? James Rampton investigates

Friday 29 April 2022 21:30 BST
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<p>The stuff of nightmares or a scientific solution? </p>

The stuff of nightmares or a scientific solution?

Dracula has a lot to answer for.

It is thanks to the vampiric Transylvanian count, who is frequently accompanied by colonies of malevolent blood-sucking bats, that the humble flying mammal has gained a terrifying reputation. Because of the animal’s creepy association with Dracula, many people are petrified of bats. They regard them as deeply sinister creatures, the stuff of nightmares.

That infamy has only been exacerbated by a popular legend that bats are prone to flying into your hair and getting stuck there. Sally Blake, the producer of Bat Superpowers, a new documentary about the mammals, confesses to previously being very fearful of them. “It’s a total myth that bats get caught in your hair, but before making this film, I was absolutely terrified of them.

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