I often hear people claim that bats are flying mice. While many bats are as small as a mouse when their wings are tucked in, bats are not related to rodents. Bats are in their own group called ‘Chiroptera’, which means hand-wing. Bats are actually more closely related to monkeys, lemurs and people than to rodents.
Scar, one of our Straw Colored Fruit Bats, just "hanging out"
Another popular misconception is that bats are blind. This is far from the truth. Most bats can see as well as a human, if not better. Fruit bats, like World Bird Sanctuary’s Straw-colored Fruit bats, have excellent eyesight and use it to find their food. Fruit bats can also see in color, which helps them locate their food.
The Little Brown Bat is one of the fourteen species of bats indigenous to Missouri. Little Browns have excellent eyesight and also have excellent hearing that they use to locate their food. I’ll talk about how many bats find their insect food in upcoming blogs.
Often when outside at a picnic during the summer I frequently hear someone panic when they realize bats are flying overhead. People often believe the bats are going to get tangled in their hair or are going to attack them. This is not true. What is happening is that the bats are swooping close to you to get the mosquitoes and other little insects that are hovering just above your head. Insect-eating bats are equipped with a built in sonar system. This system allows them to navigate at break-neck speed through total darkness, so the chance of a bat colliding with a human head is virtually non-existent.
Bats actually have very cute faces
When many people hear the word “bat” their first comment is that bats are ugly or dirty. In a bat lover’s opinion (and yes, that would include me), most bats have very cute faces, much like a puppy. Contrary to popular opinion, bats are actually very clean animals. Like a cat, they spend an enormous amount of time grooming their fur, keeping it soft and silky.
The biggest misconception people have about bats is rabies. Like most mammals, bats are capable of catching rabies. However, less than one-half of one percent of bats actually contract the disease. In reality, more people die annually from contact with rabid household pets than have died from contact with bats in all recorded history. Always be careful, though. Children should be cautioned that if they find a bat on the ground they should not pick it up. A grounded bat is most likely ill. If an adult must pick it up use heavy gloves and place the bat under or in a thick bush.
For more information regarding exactly how to remove a bat or bats go to www.batcon.org or www.batworld.org. Information about rabies can also be found on these websites. Both groups have excellent information to assist you.
1 comment:
Lots of good information, thanks.
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