Bats: 4 good reasons to save them While some bats indeed suck blood and others carry viruses like COVID-19, we couldn't live without them. Pollinating hundreds of plant species and dispersing their seeds, bats are central cogs in diverse ecosystems. Bats often have a bad reputation — but we need them to survive Bats have been mythologized for millennia as mystical, elusive and sometimes satanic creatures of the night. Indeed, the cave-dwelling superhero Batman is said to have been inspired by the Mayan "death bat," an animal god of darkness and sacrifice known as Camazotz. This image has become more sinister in recent times as bats are said to be the source of zoonotic diseases such as Ebola, SARS and now COVID-19. But researchers say humans are the real culprits since they're destroying habitats and biodiversity that once insulated people from pathogens carried by animals.