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nInnthe colder parts of the Northern Hemisphere, bats are beginning tonemerge from hibernation. What better time to celebrate them?
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nWhyncelebrate bats?
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nTheyn are the only mammals capable of true flight.
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Theyn can “see” what we can’t, in the dark, using echolocation. Batsn emit ultrasonic sounds and then listen to the reflected sounds (orn echoes); from the reflections their brains build a detailed imagen that includes distance and textures of things in the environment.n Bats also listen for other sounds, such as those created by theirn insect prey: the fluttering of moth wings or the movement of earwigsn in the ground. It’s hard to imagine that bats can hear such teenyn sounds while emitting 15 signals each and every second and listeningn for the echoes of thosen sounds, too, all the while flying at 5 to 10 miles per hour—evenn up to 60 miles per hour! Bats can tell the distance of walls andn trees and insects, they can tell the difference between hard- andn soft-bodied insects, and they can “see” and avoid wires as thinn as a human hair!n
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nBatsn rid our world of many bothersome, disease-spreading, crop-invadingn insects. (Well, the insectivorous bats do, at least. Some bats eatn fruit rather than insects.) One little brown bat can eat 1,000n mosquitos in JUST ONE HOUR! With a lifespan of almost 40 years, an little brown bat can eat a LOT of mosquitos!
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nFindnout more about bats at Amazing Bat Facts.
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nHelpnsave bats!
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Unfortunately,nmany bat species are in trouble. Bats are susceptible to pesticidesnand other poisons; they can be killed by wind turbines; their homesnand hibernacula are often disturbed by spelunking (cave exploration)nor other human activities. Check out this blog post to learn morenabout dangers to bats. n
Unfortunately,nmany bat species are in trouble. Bats are susceptible to pesticidesnand other poisons; they can be killed by wind turbines; their homesnand hibernacula are often disturbed by spelunking (cave exploration)nor other human activities. Check out this blog post to learn morenabout dangers to bats. nn
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nGooglen“bat rescue” to see if you can find any local efforts to savenbats. Perhaps you can donate money, build bat houses for yournbackyard,n or teach others about the importance of bats to our ecosystem. Herenis a story about a rescue of some orphaned baby bats in Australian(check out the adorable photo!),n and here is an organization trying to save bats in the U.S.
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nAlsonon this date:
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nAstronomer Giovanni Riccioli’s birthday
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nAnniversary of the arrival of horses in the New World
