Bats are myth-understood!
There may be more myths about bats than any other animal. Some people think bats are blind bloodsuckers that fly into your hair and carry rabies. In fact, these flying mammals are extremely useful to humans and are gentle, intelligent creatures.
Bats are divided into two major groups. Megachiroptera or mega bats are medium to large size bats. Many eat fruit, pollen, or nectar; some eat small land animals, and some eat fish. They have big eyes and excellent eyesight.
The other major group is Microchiroptera or micro bats, which are smaller bats that eat mostly insects. They use echolocation, detecting sound waves to navigate and identify the flying insects they eat. Included in this group is the smallest bat, the Kitti’s hog-nosed bat, which weighs less than a penny.
Bats are responsible for pollinating trees, flowers, and cacti. They spread seeds so plants grow in new areas. Bats pollinate avocados, bananas, breadfruit, dates, figs, mangoes, and peaches. These remarkable mammals live together by the millions, and each can eat half its weight in insects a night, so they are great at controlling large numbers of pests that harm crops and spread disease.
Bats play an important role in our ecosystem. However, they are also associated with diseases deadly to humans. Learn how you can stay safe when bats are near.
Rabies is perhaps the most well known disease associated with bats, but there is also histoplasmosis.
Histoplasmosis is another disease associated with bats. Its symptoms vary greatly, but the disease primarily affects the lungs. Occasionally, other organs are affected. When this happens it can be fatal if untreated.
In addition, Histoplasmosis is caused by a fungus that grows in soil and material contaminated with droppings from animals, including bats. Droppings, also known as bat guano, can contaminate the soil and cause infectious spores to be released when the soil is disturbed.
Even though it can be found throughout the world, it is widespread in certain areas of the U.S. and can be found in places that harbor large populations of bats, including caves.
Know more about bats:
http://www.batworlds.com/facts-about-bats/
http://animals.sandiegozoo.org/animals/bat
Study: Human-bat Interaction in rural west Africa
http://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/21/8/14-2015_article
Video source for the gif : The Verge
#biodiversity #bats
Bats never did populate the bat house I fastened to my house. :-( I wanted them here to eat mosquitoes!
ReplyDeleteThey are pretty unique creatures. The only creature I know with wings that aren't made of feathers
ReplyDeleteI think bats are the closest things to dragons in our fantasy stories. Look at the wings! Beautiful creatures...
ReplyDeleteOne evening I found one hanging from my wall outside of my house... It was sleeping and I didn't want to wake it up so I went close to it and just listen... I was standing there for an hour and watching that lite furry ball... Temptation to reach out and stroke its back was so huge... but eventually I left it there hoping it come back next evening. Unfortunately it didn't...
That's Batty! :)
ReplyDeleteThe bat guano sold in garden shops come in two main types. High nitrogen types from the insect eating bats, and high phosphorus types from the fruit eating bats.
ReplyDeleteWhile I hadn't heard of anyone becoming sick from handling this stuff, I would be cautious per your post. I am also concerned that the harvesting that is going on be sustainable.
Bat Guano sold in shops are treated to eliminate disease, and is a great fertilizer. I still prefer emulsified fish, for fertilizer nothing is better. Way out preforms commercial fertilizers too.
ReplyDeleteWondering on the origin of "batshit crazy". I was thinking it's perhaps wingsuits and "proximity flying", but then this talk of parasite fungi in bat droppings "with widely varying symptoms"...
ReplyDeleteBoris Borcic good wondering! I mean, the term seems to be only a few decades old. At least, I'd never heard it till the 21st century, so where's it from and why?
ReplyDeleteBoris Borcic Here is more info on the origins of the term "bat shit crazy". A well known user of the phrase was writer Hunter S. Thompson. http://bit.ly/1NXL2QC
ReplyDeleteThanks Trey Pitsenberger for that excellent link. Indeed, the term is not so old, being from only about a hundred years or so, as I suspected, although "batshit" was considered a way of dismissing something as worthless much earlier on.
ReplyDeleteYour welcome ann kiszt.
ReplyDelete