Bat Awareness

Is it just me or have the mosquitoes gotten worse this summer than usual? There could be a reason for that, over 200 species of bats are occupying the endangered species list! Of those 200, 13 species are in North America. These include the northern long-eared myotis, little brown bat, Indiana bat, Gray bat, Florida bonneted bat, the lesser and greater long nosed-bats, New World leaf-nosed bat, big-eared bat, Townsend's big-eared bat, Virginia big-eared bat, Hawaiian hoary bat, Eastern small-footed myotis, and the cave myotis.

Why are bats useful?

Bats are important for pollination efforts, pest control, medical research, and even replanting the rainforest. Due to the fact bees tend to go to sleep when the sun goes down, many night-blooming plants such as the moonflower depend on our bat friends to continually reproduce. Bats are also the main pollinators of plants like agave (used for tequila), cacao (cocoa), bananas, and cashews. Without their help, these crops could go out along with them!

Bats often eat at least half their body weight in mosquitoes and other flying insects in a given night while mother bats can eat their entire body weight! They help save U.S farmers an average of $23 billion in pesticides a year. With the populations decreasing across multiple species, it's no wonder the pest issues have seemingly increased so much this year.

In Latin America, bats are hunted viciously and in large masses due to the myth that bats are vampires. However, of the multiple species only 3 are vampire bats; though all 3 live in Latin America perhaps contributing to the myth that all bats are vampires. While they may be scary and prey on precious livestock, these little guys have helped the medical field by studying their anticoagulation properties and used it to further research for heart disease and stroke patients.

Lastly through their guano (bat poop), they help carry seeds all over the world and are especially helpful in replanting the diminishing tropical rainforests.

So what's wiping out all the bats?

Well for starters, loss of habitat. While some bats can make their homes in bat boxes, bats such as the gray bat will not take home in them as they prefer the sanctuary of a cave. In 1982 U.S Fish and Wildlife Services created the Gray Bat Recovery plan which involved securing and properly marking off several caves that housed large bat populations to keep them safe from human interaction. If a bat is disturbed during their slumber, their metabolism burns up much needed resources causing them to leave out sooner leading to their untimely deaths. In 2009, they reconvened for an update and all caves except for the commercial Marvel Cave owned by the Herschend Family in Missouri have been secured. The Indiana bat is facing a similar issue with loss of habitat because they prefer to live inside trees in the woods.

The increase in pesticides and outdoor lighting has also led to a decreased food supply for our flying friends as well as sleep disturbances causing them to become weakened.

One of the biggest causes of late is the emergence of Pseudogymnoascus destructans (Pd), more commonly known as white-nosed syndrome. It's caused by a type of white fungi forming on their noses, hence the name. It feeds on their energy stores during hibernation and causes the bats to act strangely, sometimes even flying during the daylight. Since it was first spotted around 2006, it has now spread quite rapidly throughout caves across the United States causing mass devastation for the bat population and there is currently no known cure though research is in progress. The best preventative measures we've found is to make sure you wash your external wear after visiting caves to limit the risk of having it spread.

How can I help?

One of the easiest ways to help save the bats is by donating money to your local wildlife reserves or an organization working specifically with bats and funding research for a cure towards white-nosed syndrome. If you have a green thumb, growing night-blooming plants is a great way to help; choosing flowers with pale blooms will attract their food therefore attracting them.

You can also build or buy bat houses. There are a few species that need sturdy bat boxes like the Florida bonneted bat due to the amount of hurricanes Florida has, it’s sometimes hard for them to find stable living spaces. As for the Indiana bat, rocket style bat houses have been noted to be helpful as it mimics the inside of a tree they typically live in. Make sure all installed bat boxes are at least 3-4’ above the ground as bats have to fall out of them to get enough wind under the wings for lift off; beware of placing near things like doors and sides of the house as bat guano will pile up.

You can also volunteer with your local wildlife center to assist in removing invasive species harming the bats, population counts, and much more.

I hope you’ve learned a thing or two about bats and realize now just how important they actually are. You don’t have to find them cute to acknowledge we need them about as much as they need us right now. Please save our bats, or at the very least stop contributing to their deaths.