Friend, Not Foe — The Truth About Bats
Georgia Udall | October 29, 2021
Special to The Echo | Pete Erb
Researchers from Indiana State capturing bats for data collection on campus.
Bats bring to mind vampires, coffins and deep, dark places. The thought of them may evoke shivers, but it turns out bats aren’t so bad after all. In fact, they are a crucial component of the ecosystem.
Aimee Shafer, a senior at Warren Wilson College (WWC), has gotten an in-depth look at bats through her internship at Indiana State’s Center for Bat Research. Through projects like mist netting, a process where bats are caught to be banded for research purposes, she has learned the ins and outs of bat research. She says that bats aren’t as scary as they seem.
“They like to keep to themselves,” said Shafer. “You don’t have to worry that they want to interact with you or come into your house… they’re actually really adorable.”
Bats have a rather harsh reputation. These misconceptions come from a few small traits that don’t affect bats nearly as much as it seems. One concern is rabies, but according to the CDC, only about 6% of tested bats have the disease.
Bats aren't interested in turning you into a vampire, either. Only one species, vampire bats, drink the blood of large mammals, but rarely ever bite humans. They will crawl onto a sleeping cow or pig, make a tiny incision with their teeth, and then lick up a harmless amount of blood. Vampire bats have an anticoagulant found in their saliva, which helps the blood flow. This glycoprotein is known as draculin and is currently being studied to improve treatment in stroke victims, meaning that in reality, studying bats could potentially save lives.
Though it is sometimes overlooked, bats have several roles in keeping the environment healthy. They disperse over 300 different species of plant seeds through their droppings, and they pollinate plants when they feed on flower nectar. Long-nosed bats are the main contributors to agave pollination, so tequila would be much harder to cultivate without them. Bats also keep mosquito and other insect populations in check — they can eat up to 1000 insects per hour!
“Bats save the US agricultural industry billions of dollars annually in pest control,” said Shafer. “They are important in keeping down mosquito populations and other insects in general. They’re more of a benefit to us than we think.”
There are plenty of ways to give back to bats for all that they do. One way is to simply learn more about what bats do and why they’re important — this helps get rid of the stigmas surrounding them. Bat boxes, similar to bird houses, are easy to set up in a backyard and give bats a place to roost. Many organizations also offer hands-on volunteer opportunities.
“The Wildlife North Carolina Resources Commission needs volunteers to track bats,” said Shafer. “They give you a little tracker to put on your car and you drive routes that pick up bat calls.”
For more information about volunteer opportunities, visit https://www.ncwildlife.org/Volunteer/Wildlife-Diversity-Program.
