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Bats and Their Positive Effects on the Environment

People in the United States often view bats as creatures as a nuisance and see no

positive effects such animals could have on the environment. It is also a common belief

of many that all bats suck blood in the way a vampire would. Thoughts like these are

unaccredited because only about three species of vampire bat exist in the world, none of

which inhabit any locality in the United States in a free and natural habitat (Tuttle 13).

Bats, in actuality, do possess the ability of reaping positive effects on the environment

they live in as a powerful form of natural insect control, pollination, and dispersion of

seed from various plants. Without the bat, many regions of the world would become

overly infested with an abundance of unwanted insects.

Coming to a conclusion at the end of the researching period, finding that bats hold

the ability to make the living environment and conditions better for human beings

whether we as humans take any notice of it is overwhelming. If humans continually kill

off bats simply for the sake of their own fears, they would eventually find their backyards

and homes running rampant with all kinds of flying, scurrying, and slithering creatures

coming from every crack and corner and scattering all around the place. As a result,

people would ponder how such atrocities came upon them and more than likely attribute

the situation to something other than the extermination of the bats that they did not

consider as holding such a potential threat to them and the environment, or so they

thought. People should get a better education of the environment and learn how having
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bats in their neighborhoods and appropriately accommodating them can significantly

impact them in many ways for the better.

Different kinds of bats in different localities show that they occupy various habits

that make each species unique and helpful to the surroundings in which they lodge.

These species include, but are not limited to, three well-known categories: the vampire

bat, the fruit and nectar bat, and the insectivorous bat. Each of these groups is distinct to

their own area and as a consequence of their daily pursuit to survive, help their neighbors.

Many people have unaccredited ways of negative thinking when it comes to bats.

People’s fears stem mostly in part from misconceptions of the vampire bat and blood.

This species of bat does not reside in the United States but can be found in Latin America

(Benson and Rensel 23). The vampire, also known as carnivorous, bats generally feed on

small animals such as fish, frogs, mice, and birds (Tuttle 13). Obviously, this helps put a

halt on the fast populating rodent communities. This fact puts down the popular belief

that vampire bats will suck the blood of any animal or human they should happen to fly

upon. Vampire bats and even bats in general will not physically or intentionally harm or

bother humans unless, of course, provoked to the point of doing so.

Another, but less heard of, group consists of fruit and nectar eating bats. In

addition to the only three existing species of vampire bats, this group only contains three

species that live in the Americas. These reside along the border of Mexico near and in

the states of Texas and Arizona. Surprisingly, a few fruit bats “may devour more than

twice their weight in a single night (Graham 30). The ones that live in tropical areas aid

in the replenishing of cut-down rainforests and are pertinent to the existence of these
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forests because they aid in the pollination of key vegetation and the dispersion of their

seeds (Tuttle 14). Some nectar-eating bats can pollinate with their tongues in addition to

their fur (Miles 42).

The most widely known group of bats in the United States contains insectivorous

bats. A predominately large percentage of bats, approximately seventy percent to be

exact, eat a diet of insects. For example, the mouse-eared bat can catch about six

hundred mosquitoes in an hour (Tuttle 13). Mouse-eared bats also have extremely sharp

teeth with which to chew their catch (Nowak 188). Bats that live in Bracken Cave in

Texas consume around two hundred and fifty thousand pounds of insects in a single night

(Tuttle 13). Knowing this, one may conclude bats may eat an amount of six to eight

thousand insects per night (Miles 42). This can equal about a quarter of their body mass

(Benson and Rensel 23). All of this information could lead one to conclude that these

bats do a serious duty in insect and pest control.

Imagine going outside on a warm and lovely summer afternoon for a walk and a

fresh breath of air. This may be an excellent and often unrealistic idea for some. Many

people would find themselves polka-dotted with several reddish inflamed, itchy bumps.

Because of these more-than-common situations that arise, scientists create more and more

forms of insect repellents in the forms of sprays, bracelets, candles, and electric bug-

zappers. Since bats posses the ability to consume an enormous number of these

mosquitoes per night, people should take into consideration the great good a community

of bats could do for them. The irritation of mosquitoes as well as the irritation of paying

out money for manufactured repellents markedly cuts down. Why pay money to repel
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insects that Mother Nature already made a natural regulator (the bat) to control the insect

population?

Bats reside in an abundance of places other than just caves, unfortunately for

them. For example, many people may have the first-hand experience that bats can live in

areas such as under the shudders of a house. Although they may never physically see the

bats, they discover their little “presents” lying on the ground below a few shutters. It

irritates them to see the brown piles increasingly grow to the point that they end up

removing the shudders from their home on a night while the bats take to flight so as to

confuse them on their return and cannot find their roost. This particular situation is

considered less harmful for some and a non-permanent form of extermination considering

the other available alternatives.

Other alternative extermination procedures include using pesticides, both

amateurishly and professionally, that hold the potential to completely kill off bats. Even

though one may not think that using pesticides on bugs and insects can have a direct

impact on bats, it really does. Bats can be introduced to pesticides through infected

insects as well as through direct forms, which can cause harm to other animals and

humans (Fenton 173). A great fear among many people rests with the fact they think the

parasites bats carry negatively affect human health. In fact, according to Brock M.

Fenton, a vast majority of parasites that occupy the bat “are specialized to the extent that

they will not survive outside of or away from bats, so they pose little threat to animals

other than bats (113). With the extermination of bats as well as the destruction of their
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homes, many areas may be doomed with a future of rampant and uncontrollable insect

infestations.

Humans should learn to be more accepting of bats as a necessary part of their

every day environment. Simply seeking out more information to become better educated

about them would definitely be a big step in the right direction. Separating fact from

fiction is vital in the learning process. If one knows more about what they are dealing

with, they may be less likely to resort to extreme alternatives to get rid of their fears.

Seeing all the positive points presented in this essay, one may wonder how to go

about coming to peace with bats and how to better accommodate them. Just like

birdhouses, bat houses may also be made from wood. Simple designs cost as little as

twenty dollars and can house upward to one hundred bats depending on the species one

try to attract (Tuttle 44). For such a relatively small cost, the benefits of an effectively

built bat house are numerous. One advantage includes the fact that the bats living in

one’s house gain the option of having an alternative choice for a residence that is both

convenient for the bats as well as the humans. Another advantage involves the decrease

in insects and mosquitoes within the general area the bats occupy. This results in happier

evenings spent outdoors for family gatherings and recreational activities. Major

organizations taking a part in the conservation of bats include Bat Conservation

International, The Nature Conservancy of Tennessee, and Southeastern Cave

Conservancy, Inc. who all pitched in to purchase a cave in Tennessee called Wolf River

Cave and some of its surrounding land on July 20, 2002 according to Bat Conservation
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International’s official web site at http://www.batcon.org/. The purchased land is home to

at least two endangered species of bat (Benson).

Bats in fact do possess the ability to make significant impacts on the quality of

nature as well as human lives. With all the information provided above, it is safe to

conclude that bats help humans more than they hurt them. Also, building bat houses is a

wonderful way to attract bats from other areas including one’s own home. In this way it

is possible to live in harmony with bats while still gaining their positive effects on their

surrounding environment.
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Works Cited
Benson, Bob. “Alliance Purchases Important Cave in Tennessee.” Bat Conservation

International (6 Aug. 2002) On-line. Internet. 11 Nov. 2003. Available WWW:

http://www.batcon.org

Benson, Robert, and Susan C. Rensel. “Bats Are Our Friends.” Countryside & Small

Stock Journal July-August 1996: vol. 80 n4: 23.

Fenton, M. Brock. Bats. New York, NY: Checkmark Books, 2001.

Graham, Gary L. Bats of the World: 103 Species in Full Color. New York: Golden

Press; Racine, Wis.: Western Publishing, 1994.

Miles, Rob. “The BAT-PATROL.” Mother Earth News August-September 2001: 42.

Nowak, Ronald M. Walker’s Bats of the World. Baltimore: John Hopkins University

Press, 1994.

Tuttle, Merlin D. America’s Neighborhood Bats. Austin: University of Texas Press,

1988.