When did Ozzy Osbourne bite a bat's head? Bat conservation expert says rocker had to have incredible jaw strength to pull off the feat 

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When did Ozzy Osbourne bite a bat's head? (Image via Harry How/Getty Images)

Days after Ozzy Osbourne's demise on July 22, 2025, several incidents involving the Prince of Darkness have resurfaced, one of them being the time he bit a bat's head during one of his concerts.

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The incident dates back to one of the shows in his tour promoting his second solo album, Diary of a Madman, in January 1982. Notably, the incident took place at the Des Moines Veterans Memorial Auditorium.

According to the BBC's report dated July 23, 2025, at the time, Ozzy was two months into the tour. The publication added that a tradition of the singer catapulting pieces of raw meat into the audience had developed.

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In the wake of Ozzy's demise, Kathryn Slater, marketing & PR queen at Bat Conservation International in Austin, talked to TMZ about the incident that has re-emerged.

Kathryn mentioned that it was likely that the Black Sabbath frontman worked on his jaw strength over time to bite through a bat's tissue, bone, and muscle. However, it was possible that the moment looked like an easy feat because of Ozzy's adrenaline levels mid-performance and in the heat of the moment.

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While Ozzy Osbourne was taken to the hospital for a rabies shot immediately after biting into a bat's head, Kathryn Slater said that most bats aren't rabid. She mentioned that the heavy metal icon probably didn't need to worry about biting into the animal.


"Ah, the man who bit the head off the bat": When Ozzy Osbourne predicted his infamous incident would follow the news of his death

The bat-biting incident concerning Ozzy Osbourne has been making rounds on the internet since his death, as it is one of those instances that many people remember the heavy metal icon by.

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Notably, Ozzy had predicted the same almost three years before his demise, during a 2022 interview with PEOPLE. At the time, the Black Sabbath member said:

"I know when I eventually do leave this place, it's going to be, 'Ah, the man who bit the head off the bat — he joined the bat today,' I mean, I've achieved quite a lot in my life, but all people do is go, 'Ozzy, what do bats really taste like? Was it dead?' But I'll tell you what, when they gave me the rabies shot, I wasn't smiling."
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The singer also mentioned the incident in his 2010 autobiography called I Am Ozzy, wherein he said that he picked up the bat, stuffed it in his mouth, and chomped on it. Ozzy wrote that "something felt wrong" immediately after the deed, and that his mouth was full of a "warm, gloppy liquid". The singer also claimed that he felt the bat's head twitch in his mouth.

Initially, the singer thought that it was a rubber bat, which is what encouraged him to pick it up and bite into it. However, during a 2006 interview with the BBC, Ozzy Osbourne's take on the situation was slightly altered as he said:

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"This bat comes on. I thought it was one of them Halloween joke bats 'cos it had some string around its neck. I bite into it, and I look to my left and Sharon [Osbourne, his wife and then manager] was going [gesturing no]. And I'm like, what you talking about? She [says], 'it's a dead real bat'. And I'm... I know now!"
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Ozzy Osbourne passed away at the age of 76, just weeks after performing his last concert on July 5, 2025. The singer's final memoir, Last Rites, is set to be posthumously released on October 7, 2025.

Edited by Arunava Dutta
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