BlO—Lancaster Farming, Saturday, October 1,1983
True or False: Bats are vicious,
filthy and disease-ridden mam
mals that attack humans.
In fact, bats the only flying
mammals are gentle, intelligent
and frequently beneficial animals,
according to this month’s In
ternational Wildlife, the bimonthly
publication of the National Wildlife
Federation.
Sensational stories often portray
bats as aggressive flying monsters
that charge at people and transmit
deadly diseases. Bats are actually
meticulously clean and seldom
spread disease or parasites to
humans.
Despite exaggerated claims,
fewer than one half of one percent
of bats ever contract rabies, and
only 10 people in the United States
and Canada have died of disease
from bats in more than 30 years
far less than the number of people
killed by dog attacks.
Bats are also gentle and sociable
when it comes to rearing their
offspring. Most expectant bat
mothers join nursery colonies
where hundreds or even millions of
them congregate to raise their
young. While the mothers help
each other with child-rearing
chores, each individual recognizes
and protects her own offspring.
Fathers, in the meantime,
cooperate by simply leaving the
colony, reducing competition for
limited food at the site. Among bat
species that live in small groups,
however, males may help with
rearing the young, and bring food
home to their mates.
Home for bats is usually a cave,
though many also roost in animal
burrows, termite and bird nests,
unfurling banana leaves, bamboo
stalks, or even spider webs.
Several make their own homes by
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cutting palm fronds or other leaves
to make “tents.”
Most bats migrate in the spring
and fall to find suitable hibernating
caves or warmer climates, often
traveling up to a thousand miles
one way. When researchers have
deliberately moved bats hundreds
of miles, they’ve discovered that
bats find their way home.
Guiding bats through the air is a
complex navigational system with
sonar more sophisticated than
man can comprehend. What we do
know is that bats produce rapid
pulses of sound at rates ranging
from 20 to more than 500 per
second, using sonar to perceive
motion, distance, speed, trajec
tory, shape, texture and size
enabling them to detect and avoid
obstacles as thin as a human hair
or as small as a mosquito.
Because of their intricate sonar,
bats are exceptionally long-lived
and disease-resistant, making
them extremely valuable in
scientific research. Studies on
bats, for example, have con
tributed to development of
navigational aids for the blind, new
vaccines, artificial insemination
and birth control methods, drug
testing, and studies of aging and
space biology.
Bats are also major pollinators
of 130 varieties of tropical plants,
and the fruit-eating pecies are
nature’s most important seed-
Spurs N Burrs 4-H Club met for Wilson, Buffie Dunlap, Karen
an obstacle trail ride at the home Fields and Came Stuart,
of Clarence and Nancy Hottle. A birthday party for Kara Haas
First place winners were Christy followed.
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7. GREEK!
8. LTBROWNJ
9. PEACH
10. LT GREEN
Spurs N Burs 4-H Club
dispersing animals. Included on
the long list of fruits, nuts and
derivatives from bat-adapted
plants are peaches, bananas,
avocados, cashews, mangoes and
figs.
Despite their obvious value, bats
are relentlessly persecuted, and
many of their populations are
extremely low. Scare stories about
bats frighten people into at
tempting dangerous solutions to
minor or nonexistent problems.
When people fear bats in their
homes, for instance, they may
needlessly spray with toxic
pesticides threatening both
humans and bats. Acting out of
fear, people also close cave en
trances eliminating suitable
habitat for as many as a million
bats in one cave. Human distur
bance can frighten young bat
mothers who then allow their
young to die.
Bats are legally protected in
Europe and the Soviet Union, but
in the United States, the only bats
protected by the Endangered
Species Act are gray, Indiana,
Ozark big-eared, Hawaiian hoary,
and Virginia big-eared.
Though bats are often protected
under state game laws, those laws
are seldom enforced, and survival
of these valuable mammals
depends upon prompt education of
the public.
COLUMBIA *
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