A Spooky Misconception: Bats

Halloween is coming. And even though we have a blast camping out in the RV, carving pumpkins and dressing up as ghosts and goblins, it’s also a tough time of year for batty public relations. We thought this would be a great time to set the record straight with a few fun facts about bats from Bat Conservation International:

http://www.batcon.org/

• Centuries of myths and misinformation still generate needless fears and threaten bats and their habitats around the world.
• The more than 1,200 species of bats. They range from the world's smallest mammal, the tiny bumblebee bat that weighs less than a penny to giant flying foxes with six-foot wingspans.
• A single little brown bat can eat up to 1,000 mosquito-sized insects in a single hour, while a pregnant or lactating female bat typically eats the equivalent of her entire body weight in insects each night.

• Almost a third of the world's bats feed on the fruit or nectar of plants. In return for their meals, these bats are vital pollinators of countless plants (many of great economic value) and essential seed dispersers with a major role in regenerating rain-forests.
• About 1 percent of bats eat fish, mice, frogs or other small vertebrates.
• Only three species, all in Latin America, are vampires. They really do feed on blood, although they lap it like kittens rather than sucking it up as horror movies suggest. Even the vampires are useful: an enzyme in their saliva is among the most potent blood-clot dissolvers known and is used to treat human stroke victims.

If you want to test your bat knowledge, take the bat fact quiz! http://www.batcon.org/index.php/all-about-bats/kidz-cave/bat-fact-quiz.html

Here’s a little more information on Iowa’s bats from Iowa State University.

Eight species of bats are found in the state of Iowa. One of them, the Indiana bat, is a federally endangered species, exceedingly rare. Five species -- the northern myotis, the silver-haired, the eastern pipistrelle, the red, and the hoary bat  -- are either solitary or are found primarily in dense woodland areas near water. As a result, people rarely encounter them. Only two bats, the big brown and little brown, commonly use buildings in the summer for colonies. Only the big brown bat uses buildings in winter. It is mainly these two species that bring the deluge of phone calls to this and other offices.

If you find a bat, think before you scream, and call an expert bat rehabilitator before you reach for that broom! http://www.extension.iastate.edu/wildlife/RehabList