Start with understanding....
There is a lot of negative news about bats these days. It gets depressing if you just think about all that is going wrong in the world of bats these days, so I thought it would be helpful to create a list of things ANYONE can do to help bats. This is my first go at blogging - so I will write about eight things over a series of blog posts. Hopefully someone finds these useful!
First Step:
1. Get to know the bats in your area.
- Bats are fascinating mammals that provide valuable ecosystem services through their consumption of huge numbers of insects. One study estimated the value provided by bats in pest control in the United States for one year was up to $53 billion US. Another study calculated that a colony of 100 Little Brown Myotis (Myotis lucifugus) would consume about 19 kilograms (42 pounds) of insects in a four month period! Another study calculated that a colony of 150 Big Brown Bats (Eptesicus fuscus) could consume 38,000 cucumber beetles, 16,000 June bugs, 19,000 stinkbugs, and 50,000 leafhoppers over a single summer! A mother bat nursing a young bat learning to fly can eat more than their own weight in insects in one night!
- Bats are also amazingly long-lived. Biologists have found bats that are 38 and 42 years old in Alberta and eastern North America! However, they reproduce very slowly. Most insectivorous bats give birth to only one pup per year (although some may have twins) and they only have one litter per year. Less than half of young bats likely survive their first winter. These facts mean that recovery of population losses can be very very slow.
- Many people think of their local bat population as a single “type” or as a single species. The truth is that there are many different kinds of bats – different sizes, using different parts of the ecosystem, eating different things and some of them are quite different in appearance! In Canada, the province of British Columbia has the most species with 18 different kinds of bats. Across Canada, there are 21 different species in total. The Prairie Provinces have around 8 or 9 different species. The further south you go in North America – the greater the variety of bat species. Worldwide, there are over 1000 different kinds of bats.
- Bats are found just about everywhere on the planet. They will use urban landscapes as well as wild lands including marshes, forests, cliffs, caves, from high elevations to low elevations. The only places without bats are those that are too cold and without available roosting habitat (e.g., the Antarctic and Arctic Regions).
Where do I start?
·
Look online for bat educational resources,
especially Bat Conservation International
who has been instrumental in bat conservation throughout North America and the
world.
·
Look online for bat information provided by your
province or state. Almost all provincial/state governments have a Department
that handles Fish and Wildlife issues and many provide great local information
on bats.
·
Consult your local library for a mammal guide
for your area and figure out which species should be present.
·
Check out your local naturalist club and see if
there are any bat enthusiasts. Join in and learn together!
·
Useful online resources for bats in Canada and
the US:
o
Bat
Conservation International (International batwork, based in Austin, Texas)
o
Western Bat Working
Group (bat biologists, researchers, wildlife managers from Western North
America)
o
BC BAT
British Columbia Bat Action Team (bat biologists, wildlife managers,
consultants working to promote bat conservation)
o
ABAT
Alberta Bat Action Team (bat biologists, wildlife managers, consultants working
to promote bat conservation)
o
Alberta Environment – Bats
of Alberta
o
The Toronto Zoo – Bat
Conservation Guide
o
Organization
for Bat Conservation (American organization, based in Michigan, USA)
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