Batfly

Batflies are passive flying creatures that resemble bats. They are passive creatures and are one of the s' main sources of food.

Abilities & Behavior
Batflies are one of the most ubiquitous creatures in the game, appearing in all but one region. Due to how common they are, they form a substantial part of most Slugcats' diet.

Batflies can often be found swarming in rooms featuring white-tipped plants, which function as their nests. When they sense a threat, they attempt to dive and burrow into one, then reemerge from another, farther plant in the same room. Swarms often leave one these rooms if a large number of them are eaten during a cycle and migrate to another swarm room in the region. Other groups of Batflies can also be found migrating throughout a region, moving from room to room.

Sometimes, when resting upside down on a ceiling, Batflies attach to each other, forming stacks. If a Batfly with others attached to it from below starts flying, the attached Batflies may not separate, and it can end up struggling to fly.

Batflies seem to have a resistance to echo's abilities to make creatures fall asleep, but only slightly as they still fall asleep if they move closer.



Relationships
Batfly

Strategy
Though Batflies are often wary of the player, they are usually rather lethargic in their evasion, and can be caught easily by simply jumping towards them and grabbing. Batflies are easier to catch if you are above them — they have a simple flight pattern and hover in a single spot for a few seconds, which is the perfect time to pounce. They can also be hunted from afar by hitting them with or s, killing them and causing them to fall to the ground. It should be noted that Batflies cannot be stored in a shelter for later consumption, and thus must be eaten within the same cycle. Batflies are attracted to, which can be used to lure Batflies over to the player where they can be more easily caught. Batflies can be used to distract certain creatures, such as s and, by catching a Batfly quickly and throwing it into the range of the plant. If the player grabs a Batfly with multiple others attached to it, they may have a small delay before detaching from the stack, which can be useful to gather large quantities of Batflies.

If the cycle timer has run out to the extent that pausing to eat would be lethal, Batflies may still be carried to a shelter whereupon they will be automatically consumed even though they can not be stored. This will occur even if there is not enough time for the eating animation to play, with each Batfly worth the usual amount of pips. This can spare Slugcat a starvation cycle.

Trivia

 * Most creatures in the game, such as most, do not eat Batflies; however, s, , s, and actively hunt them.
 * Despite being counted as meat and counting towards The Hunter achievement, they are only worth ¼ a pip of food to the.