We are Blind about Bats

[Guest guest]

We all know about the creepy little " rodents. "

They're dirty and vicious.

They'll suck your blood, given half a chance, or get tangled up in your hair.

They're blind, and prime carriers of rabies.......

By now you probably know that we are referring to bats, but in doing so in

these terms we are displaying a woefully distorted knowledge of bats.

Bats generally are much cleaner and less dangerous than pet dogs and humans,

yet they continue to be maligned and villified - and we make a grave error in

teaching our youngsters that they are evil vermin that ought to be avoided

and destroyed.

The following web page tells you more about these fascinating creatures:

http://sln.fi.edu/inquirer/bats.html

It's about time bats got a little respect, according to Tuttle, a behavioral

ecologist who has written one book, four articles in National Geographic and

45 scientific papers on the creatures........

Though bats exist in every state - there are 1000 types, making up a quarter

of all mammal species - Tuttle considers them " among the least studied and

most fascinating of mammals. "

As for the Halloween cliches, he's quick to rebut them. Bats are mammals, not

rodents. They keep themselves clean. There are vampire bats, but they live

only in Central and South America. And far from being blind, at least one bat

in this country " has been found to have vision on a par with military

night-vision scopes, " Tuttle says. " They're hardly likely to blunder into

anybody's hair. " As for the claim that bats carry rabies, Tuttle says they

are no more likely than any other wild animal to carry it.

" You're more likely to be struck on the head by a falling meteorite than to

get rabies from a bat, " he said. " Much of the early research turned out to be

completely erroneous. In those days, people just conveniently blamed bats for

everything, and unfortunately there are a lot of public-health people out

there who got their education 20 or 30 years ago. "

Not only are most bats harmless, he added, they're essential in maintaining

the balance of nature. They're the only major predator of night-flying

insects; many eat half their body weight in bugs [especially mosquitoes]

every night, leading some people to dub them " nature's bug-zappers. "

They also disperse seeds and pollinate flowers and fruits, and their guano,

mined from caves, is an important source of fertilizer.

" They're extremely important to our ecosystems, yet they're often

misunderstood, " said Eileen Muller, a bat expert at Tri State Bird Rescue and

Research Inc. in Newark, Del. " Much of my education work involves promoting

them in a positive light. "

How did bats get such a scary reputation? Interestingly, they are not

unpopular everywhere, says Tuttle. " In countries where they have a six-foot

wingspan, they're often eulogized as folk heroes, or are considered symbols

of good luck and happiness. The fear and misunderstanding here comes from the

fact that they're small and nocturnal. "

Fear and ignorance have gone hand in hand with a dramatic decline in the bat

population. Of the 44 species in the United States, more than half are either

on the federal endangered list or are official candidates for it. Many

species have been wiped out....

But the biggest single cause of their decline is people, acting out of fear

or ignorance: amateur spelunkers who unwittingly disturb bats during

hibernation, developers who unknowingly pave over their cave entrances,

people who deliberately harm them by waking them during hibernation, throwing

cherry bombs into their caves or building fires at the entrances.......

------------

For those who would like to know more about these amazing mammals, go to:

Bat Conservation International

http://www.batcon.org/

-----------------

Dr Mel C Siff

Denver, USA

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Supertraining/

[Guest guest]

Salutations to all and hope that the new year will bring high totals

and new PR's for us all.

Just a question to you Mel.

Where in the world are there bats with 6 foot wing spans?

I'm familiar with the flying fox species that exists prolifically in

Australia that honestly looks like a fox with wings. It's large

enough.

[For a start, giant bats, which can grow to a wing-span of 2.5m and

weigh as much as 2kg and are internationally listed as endangered, are

found at the 400-year-old Doi (Bat) Pagoda in Soc Trang province and

a few other Khmer temples in Cambodia. Mel Siff]

<Interestingly, they are not unpopular everywhere, says Tuttle.

" In countries where they have a six-foot wingspan, they're often

eulogized as folk heroes, or are considered symbols of good luck

and happiness. >

Terry O'Brien

Warburton

Australia