WE have a bat in the barn. Bats are good:
- They eat insects, particularly mosquitoes, which we have a lot of
- They can eat up to 500-1000 mosquito's per hour
- They pollinate flowers and spread seeds
- Their guano is a high nitrate fertilizer
Other interesting bat facts:
- They are the only flying mammal in the world
- They can live 20-30 years
- They're considered to indicate good luck and happiness in China
- In cold climates bats either migrate or hibernate, their body temperature dropping almost to freezing!
- Researchers are trying to find a way to use vampire bat saliva (it's a natural anticoagulation) to use in heart patients
All this to say, I love the bat houses at the zoo and think bats are great for the environment and that they are cute. What I don't like; our bat likes to dive bomb us. We thought it was a fluke the first couple of times, but it has become quite obvious that this behavior is very deliberate. We try to duck and stay ducked down until he gets it out of his system, he has now taken to just swooping lower. If anyone's ever experienced this or find some link online to aggressive/territorial bats let me know. All I can find is the "bats are nice animals, are not blind and will not become tangled in your hair", this is for "typical" bats, this one is not normal.
2 comments:
Oh now you've got me paranoid. Well if he has rabies he should die soon. If not, hybernation will kick in soon, we had frost this morning.
Bat's eat mosquitoes, we have A LOT of mosquitoes, which also are bad, they have West Nile. So is Rabies or West Nile better? :)
Kristie Sullivan and Kelly McClurg write: we really enjoyed your bat facts! In our opinion, the vampire bat saliva fact reminded us of the issue of stem cells and embryos. We hope they don't get endangered, like elephants have for their ivory! Thanks for increasing our bat knowlegde! :)
p.s. - We miss you!
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