Year of the Bat

2011 has been named the Year of the Bat by the United Nations Convention on Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals, and by the Agreement on the Conservation of Population of European Bats.  Year of the Bat is going to promote conservation, research and education of these fascinating flying mammals. 

 Batty & Scar, our two Straw Colored Fruit Bats

World Bird Sanctuary is also going to participate by having some of our blogs dedicated to bat information, and some additional displays about our bats and bat conservation at our Nature Center.  We are going to work on promoting the conservation of these amazing animals by providing much needed education for one of the world’s most misunderstood and persecuted mammals.

World Bird Sanctuary is participating in promoting Year of the Bat for two reasons.  To begin with, WBS has two resident Straw-colored Fruit Bats on exhibit and we would like to debunk some of the many myths associated with these often misunderstood creatures.  The second reason is that bird and bat conservation are directly related.  Bats face many of the same environmental issues as birds. Three overlapping threats to birds and bats are habitat loss, pesticides and wind power.  Over the coming year I will at some point touch on each of these topics, along with many others.

My own fascination with Bats began back in 2002.  I was living in Milwaukee, WI at the time, and attended a speaking engagement by Dr. Merlin Tuttle, founder and president of Bat Conservation International (www.batcon.org).  By the end of the evening I was in love with these flying mammals. Upon seeing all of his jaw-dropping photos of these intriguing animals I was addicted.  Shortly after that I became a member of Bat Conservation International to help me keep up on the latest developments in bat conservation, and because I was truly interested in bats and wanted to know more about them. There are more than 1,116 species of bats worldwide with new species being discovered all over the world.  About half of these bats are currently at risk of becoming endangered. 

Bats range in size from the smallest, the Bumblebee Bat of Thailand which weighs less than a penny, to the giant Flying Fox from Indonesia, which has a wingspan of up to six-feet--equivalent to a male bald eagle. 

There are an estimated 134 plants that yield products we use that at least partially rely on bats for pollination or seed dispersal.  Some of these products include bananas, mangoes, dates, figs and tequila.  Bats like the Little Brown Bat found here in Missouri can eat about 1000 mosquito-sized insects in an hour.    Many other species of bats eat insects that attack farmers’ crops, so insect eating bats are also very helpful to our ecosystem.

 

Keep an eye on the blog or visit our Nature Center to learn more about these truly spectacular flying mammals--Bats.

Submitted by Cathy Spahn, World Bird Sanctuary Field Studies Coordinator