Rats Hunting Flying Bats In Rare Footage Sparks Fears Of Pandemics, New Disease Outbreaks

Last Updated:November 06, 2025, 02:36 IST

The never-before-seen footage shows two of animal kingdom’s most notorious disease carrying mammals getting horrifyingly close.

Night-vision footage from Germany shows a rat snatching bats mid-flight, marking the first documented case of such predatory behaviour, scientists say. (IMAGE: X)

The first-ever evidence of rats hunting bats mid-flight has alarmed scientists, raising concerns about potential new pathways for disease transmission and new pandemics as two of the animal kingdom’s most notorious carriers get dangerously close.

The night-vision footage, recorded at the entrances of two major urban bat colonies in northern Germany, shows rats leaping to snatch flying bats out of the air and eating them, which is a behaviour never documented before.

The video, which has since gone viral, has sparked fresh discussion among researchers about the risk of pathogen spillover between species that already play key roles in spreading infectious diseases.

The video was also described in a study published in the journal Global Ecology and Conservation.

“To our knowledge, this type of rat behaviour has not previously been documented scientifically," Florian Gloza-Rausch, a biologist at the Museum of Natural History in Berlin and the lead author of the report, told the UK’s Telegraph.

Bats are vectors for a wide range of deadly diseases from coronaviruses to rabies and Ebola and account for about a fifth of all mammal species on earth.

Rats live close to humans and are found on every continent except Antarctica.

What Does The Footage Show?

Researchers had rigged night vision cameras at the entrances to a cave near an open-air theatre in the town of Bad Segeberg and in a rocky outcrop in a public park in Lüneburg.

Researchers recorded brown rats hunting bats at least 30 times as they entered and exited the cave in the cave in Bad Segeberg. The rats were successful 13 times.

Scientists found the remains of over 50 bats, including some that had not yet been fully eaten.

The footage, which the UK’s Telegraph in its report likened to “opening sequence of a pandemic disaster film", shows a rat balancing on its hind legs in the darkness. It appears to be alert to the presence of numerous bats flying around it.

When the right moment arises, it grabs a small bat and sinks its teeth into its prey and carries it to away to eat it.

Researchers also observed that the rats “were frequently observed patrolling the landing platform at the cave entrance".

“They were standing upright on their hind legs, using their tails for balance and raising their forelegs to intercept flying bats. Individuals were documented capturing bats mid-air, killing them immediately with a bite and dragging them away," the researchers pointed out.

The scientists highlighted that even though rats have relatively poor eyesight, the bats were killed at night and the rats possibly detected their prey sensing the air currents from the bats’ wings or by feeling for them with their whiskers.

There were no signs of successful hunts at the site in Lüneburg but they found a series of carcasses that suggested the rats were also hunting bats there.

“Such interactions may facilitate the spillover of bat-associated pathogens to rodents, potentially altering disease dynamics and expanding transmission opportunities to humans and domestic animals," they pointed out.

They expressed concerns that the rats, which are not native to Germany, could be doing serious harm to the bat populations there.

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