Here are seven interesting facts about bats!
Bats make up one-quarter of the world mammal population.
There are 45 species of bats in North America. Thirty-two species live in Texas, while Maine has only eight. The most common bats in homes are brown and little brown bats.A little brown bat eats about 1200 mosquitoes a night.
In areas of declining bat population, the mosquito population is on the rise.Bat excrement, or guano, makes excellent fertilizer.
Bat poop is agriculturally important in Cuba and some South American countries. The term “guano” comes from Peru, and refers to nutrient-rich excrement used for fertilizer.Bats are born backwards.
Bat pups are the only mammals to emerge from the womb feet-first. Mother bat usually has one pup to nurse; twins are rare. She curls her feet and tailbone upward to make a protective pouch for her baby, while she's nursing.Without bats, there would be no tequila.
Long-nosed bats pollinate the agave plant, which is the source of all tequila.Bats and whales navigate by echolocation.
They produce high-pitched sounds, which echo from nearby objects. Bats also sense air currents, and can get lost in a home by following the wrong air current. Although bats are nocturnal, they can see perfectly well in daylight.Bats don't like brass band music.
In 1911, Dr. Charles Campbell noted that bats were not disturbed by bell-ringing and organ music in churches. He determined that brass band music was the acoustic “opposite” of church music. When a brass band played for a colony of bats in a Texas hunting lodge, the bats fled and never returned. A experiment in a nearby ranch house achieved the same results.
Bats are usually harmless to humans. Only 0.5% of the entire bat population gets rabies, and, unlike other animals that get the disease, a rabid bat is non-aggressive. In general bats are healthy, shy, and will only bite if threatened.
The more we understand bats, the more we learn about the natural world around us.
