By Cindy Swirko From OCALA StarBanner

Alachua County has lots of bats. Spend time outside at dusk and watch the show as they fly from their roost and start flitting and diving for bugs.

Or for a really big show, visit the Lake Alice bat house on the University of Florida campus as the sun sets, when thousands take flight for the night.

But none of the bats found in Florida — generally no more than a few inches big — were to be found at the Lubee Bat Conservancy Saturday at its 10th annual bat festival.

Instead, most of the creatures on rare display in the conservancy’s enclosures were fruit-eating bats from Malaysia, Australia or the Caribbean.

And while bats aren’t generally what people think of when they think of warm and fuzzy animals, visitors Saturday would have hugged them if they could.

“This is very exciting. We’ve talked about coming for years,” said Jan Buechs of Ocklawaha, who joined Pam Wynkoop on the trip to northern Alachua County. “I love them. I want to take one home.”

Hanging like Dracula and spreading their wings for warmth or to show off to each other, the biggest of the breeds — Malayan flying foxes — can have capes stretching five feet.

With their blondish-brown fur, they were the celebrities of the day with hundreds of cameras snapping away.

Conservancy animal keeper Jenny Warren said the big boys can weigh up to three pounds.

The bats of all breeds on display at Lubee were more intent on munching fruit, walking upside down on the screen and preening than anything else. It turns out they also like playing.

“They are very curious. They are not aggressive but they are curious and tactile. They get into all kinds of stuff,” Warren said. “They like pick-up sticks. The colored sticks — they’ll pick through them. They like to hold things and see what they are, investigate them.”

Over 1,300 species of bats exist in the world. Some species are endangered, including the Florida bonneted bat, which is listed federally and is found only in parts of central and southwest Florida, including the Everglades.

The most common species in North Central Florida is the Brazilian free-tailed bat, which roosts primarily in trees, said Anthony Mason, Lubee’s development coordinator. The Brazilian free-tailed are most likely the bats we see at our houses and one of three species that roost in the UF bat house.

One thing Florida bats have in their favor is that they are unlikely to be stricken with white-nose syndrome, a fungus that is plaguing bats in northern states, Mason said. It causes them to wake from hibernation in the middle of winter and try to find food when it is least available. The cold kills them or they starve to death.

“It’s really devastating other parts of the country but hasn’t come this far south,” Mason said. “What they are thinking is that it is unlikely to come south of the Appalachians because it affects bats in a greater way in hibernation.”

Lubee is a fruit bat research organization that has conducted conservation projects across Asia, Africa and the Caribbean. It is the only facility in North America that breeds several species.

Gainesville’s Christine Davis, Norm Douglas and their children, Evelyn and Ruby Davis Douglas, made their first trip to the annual festival but plan to make a yearly event.

Clutching stuffed bats, the girls said they had their favorites, and for Evelyn, it wasn’t the impressive Malayans.

“I think this was awesome,” Evelyn said. “My favorite was a tiny one eating a banana. I liked how cute it was.”

IMAGE: An Indian Flying Fox bat climbs up a rope swing during the 10th annual Florida Bat Festival at the Lubee Bat Conservatory on Saturday, Oct. 25, 2014 in Gainesville, Fla.

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