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Not batty about bats? Maybe you should be -- especially if you're skittish about skeeters!
Consider: A single little brown bat -- Myotis lucifugus, one of the most common species flitting across our night skies -- can devour as many as 1,200 mosquitoes in an hour. Multiply that by a colony of 50 or more and we're talking some serious pest control! In addition to being voracious insectivores, bats (the only flying mammals) are also important agents of seed dispersal and pollination. At the same time, say the experts, bugaboos such as bats as disease-carriers have been greatly exaggerated, and the bad reputation has obscured an alarming decrease in chiroptera numbers. More than 10 species have gone extinct over the last 500 years, with many more considered at risk. Pesticides like DDT are known to accumulate in the fatty tissues of some species and have likely contributed to their decline. Lately, however, a growing appreciation of bats and their beneficial role in Nature has convinced many organic farmers and wildlife enthusiasts to attract bats to their environs with man-made habitat. So-called bat houses are becoming a popular project across the country. The Austin, Texas-based organization Bat Conservation International (BCI) has enrolled more than 6,000 volunteer research associates in the U.S. and Canada to help monitor bat populations in artificial roosts. If you're interested in erecting bat habitat of your own, BCI publishes excellent resources including The Bat House Builder's Handbook, a video, Building Homes for Bats, and a semi-annual research report called The Bat House Researcher. You can also find plans at their web site for an economical bat house, along with recommendations on siting, timing, and design issues. Lastly, if you choose to buy one of the many pre-fab bat houses on the market, look for BCI's "Bat-Approved" logo to ensure that the design is, in fact, hospitable to our furry, flying friends. 
Bat Conservation International  Photo courtesy USDA Up to Top |
After all, if mosquitoes are man's greatest enemy - and the combined death
toll from mosquito-borne diseases like Yellow Fever, malaria, and dengue
argues strongly for that claim - then chiroptera surely deserve a seat next
to canines as among man's very best friends.