Over the last few months I have been doing a lot of research about bats to learn more facts for the World Bird Sanctuary programs, bat blogs and monthly displays in our Nature Center.
The more research I do the more amazing bat facts I find about these fascinating Flying Mammals.
A Mexican Free-tailed Bat spotted on a recent trip
Bats belong to the order called “Chiroptera”, meaning hand-wing. The bat’s wing structure is simlar to the human hand. The four long bones with the connective membrane are like our fingers. The thumb is small and has a nail or claw on it. This claw is very useful for crawling, grooming and holding onto food.
Bats eat a wide variety of food, including insects, fruit, nectar, fish frogs, rodents, lizards, birds and blood. Recently a study was done to determine the economic value of bats in the United States. The study estimated that bats save agriculture up to $53 billion a year. Just think about it—one little brown bat can eat up to 1,000 mosquito sized insects an hour. Most of the bats we have here in the United States are insect eating bats, so they are eating the insects that would destroy crops. With bats eating the insects farmers need to use less insecticide on their crops, thereby saving them money.
Not only are insect eating bats beneficial, but so are the pollinators and fruit eating bats. Bats pollinate and spread seed for a multitude of plants. Of these, 134 species yield products that we use. Some of the products we use that depend on bat pollinators include: bananas, avocados, dates, figs, peaches, mangoes, durian, cloves, cashews, carob and balsa wood. Rainforests also rely on bats to spread seeds. Bats can account for up to 95 percent of the first new growth of rainforests.
Batty--A Straw-colored Fruit Bat who resides in our Nature Center
In Africa the Great Baobab Tree of the East African savannah relies almost exclusively on Straw-colored Fruit Bats for pollination and seed dispersal. This tree is often called the “African Tree of Life”, and without bats the Tree of Life could die out, jeopardizing an entire ecosystem.
Bat droppings, or Guano, was at one time a major natural resource in the United States, and is still mined commercially in many countries. Guano in caves supports whole ecosystems of unique organisms, including bacteria useful in detoxifying wastes, improving detergents and manufacturing antibiotics.
Just recently, the number of known bat species has changed from 1,105 listed back in 2003, to 1,212 recognized species as of March 2011. The more scientists learn about bats the more species they are discovering.
Batty and Scar--just hanging out
When visiting the World Bird Sanctuary Nature Center be sure to take the time to visit our two Straw-colored Fruit Bats—Batty and Scar.
Submitted by Cathy Spahn, World Bird Sanctuary Field Studies Coordinator
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