Transcript BAT DAY

BAT DAY
A Really Great Lesson
by
Mrs. Golenberke
This lesson is dedicated to the memories of Dr. Kenneth
Andersen – the “Bat Man” of Gannon University.
He isn’t dead, there are just some great memories from
the bat caves of San Salvador in the Bahamas
Bat Myths
Blind as a bat?
Although their eyes are adapted to darkness,
all bats can see, some as well as humans
The Pomo Indians of California
believed that bats could eat volcanic rock
and then spew forth arrowheads.
The legend of Dracula, the human vampire,
arose long before real blood-drinking bats
were discovered in South America
Bats do not become entangled in women's hair,
and yet this belief still persists
in the Western World.
"Eye of newt and toe of frog,
Wool of bat and tongue of dog."
Recipe for a witches' brew,
from Macbeth by William Shakespeare
The sinister association of bats
with the underworld has been
a recurrent theme in European folklore.
Because witches and bats both fly at night,
they are natural partners in European folklore.
Medieval folklore suggests
the disturbing double nature of bats:
They "fly like a bird" but "bite like a beast."
In China, bats are believed to bring good luck.
Thus a bat entering a Chinese house
would be welcome.
In Europe a bat entering the house
would be seen as an evil omen.
Mexican farmers refer to bats as "old mice“
(ratones viejos), in the belief that rats and
mice develop wings when they grow old.
What Mrs. G has to say on the subject of bats
Order Chiroptera – “hand wing”
Bats ARE NOT:
flying rodents - they are mammals
 bats are more closely related to us
 reproduce slowly – one bat per year (live up to 30 years)
blind
 must have good sight to eat insects at night
 have sonar also to help – man made version doesn’t come close
*can fly without sonar but they bump into things
(kind of like riding without a seat belt)
Interested in getting in your hair
 if thy can detect a mosquito in the dark, they won’t blunder into hair
dirty & carry rabies
 bats are very clean & must be so to fly
 less than .3% of bats carry rabies (3 in every thousand)
 people used to believe that bats were unaffected by rabies
 you are more likely to contract rabies from a skunk or domestic animal
mean
 Bats are not aggressive
 They often look mean because of photographers wanting good pictures
Mrs. G has even more to say…
Importance of Bats
There are nearly 1000 species of bats in the world (39 in the US)
They range in size from bumblebee (Thailand) that weighs less than a penny to
flying foxes with wingspans of up to 6 ft
Importance to Ecology
1. Eat Insects (70%) – the rest eat fish, crickets, pollen, nectar
 can eat 30% of body weight (4-8 pound of insects per year)
 they can eat about 500-600 insects per hour, or 1 every 7 second
 In New York, 1000 bats eat 2-4 tons of insects per year – in summer resorts,
no pesticides are allowed
 Bats do somersaults to catch mosquitoes with tail
2. Eat Fruit & Pollen (Tropics)
 important for pollination & seed dispersal (bananas, cashews)
 loss of bats could threaten survival of tropical rainforests
Bats do hibernate
 live in trees, tree bark, caves, bridges, mines, attics, plants leaves, rock
crevices – all but in the Polar Regions
And now for the music…
IF THEY FLY,
WHY
AREN'T THEY BIRDS?
Do you know why?
Is there a difference?
Take a look and find out!
Are you more like a bat or a bird?
Bats are mammals.
They have fur or hair.
A baby bat is born live.
The babies nurse from their mom.
Bats have arms, hands and feet.
They are warm blooded.
Birds Are...well...birds!
They are hatched from eggs.
Birds have feathers, not fur or hair.
Babies are fed from mom's mouth.
They have wings, but no hands and fingers.
So, are bats and birds different?
Yes they are.
And, a bat is the only mammal that can truly fly...
even though it is not a bird!
Isn't that amazing?
Aren't bats really amazing?
WHAT DOES A BAT LOOK LIKE?
The diagram below shows the main parts of a bat.
bat illustration by Aletha Reppel, Bat Conservation International Educator's Activity Book
A BAT'S BODY DOES MANY THINGS
THAT HELP IT LIVE.
EARS: Bats have very good hearing. They use it for finding food and locating their
babies. For insect and fish eaters, the big ears help with echolocation. Usually, echoes
are received by funnel-shaped ears that face forward.
NOSE: The sense of smell is well developed in most bats. It is used to find and identify
certain foods and to recognize roost mates and young. Fruit eating bats can find their
food by the smell of the ripening fruit. Nectar seeking bats gather pollen on their snout,
and by going from flower to flower help create new plants.
EYES: Bats are not blind! For example, flying fox bats have very good eyesight and they
use their eyes along with their excellent sense of smell to help find food in the
dark. Bats' eyes are better at seeing in the dark. Most see objects only in black and
white, but color vision is known to exist in some old world fruit bats.
FEET: With their strong claws, bats are able to hang upside down in their roosts.
Fishing bats also use their claws to scoop up the fish they will eat.
HANDS AND WINGS: Bats fly by using their hands and wings. While the wings are
flapping, bats can go up or down by moving the membrane between the body and fifth
finger. This is called "lift." Bats move forward (called "thrust") by changing the shape
of the membrane between the second and fifth fingers.
FUR ON THEIR BODY: You can tell that a bat is a mammal because it has fur or hair on
its body. The fur protects the bat because different colors and designs can serve as
camouflage and they can hide from danger. The fur is kept clean by regular licking,
somewhat like what a cat does. In the winter it helps keep the bat warm.
BAT FOODS
The nearly 1,000 different kinds of bats in the world eat a variety of foods, and sometimes, while doing so, help humans.
Fruit-eating bats prefer ripe
As they fly they drop seeds
which can grow into new trees.
.
Bats that like to eat
pick up pollen.
By going from flower to flower, bats help make new plants.
eating bats use vision,
echolocation and sounds from their prey to help locate their food.
Fishing bats grab little
out of the water with their claws. Echolocation is used to
find this food.
Most vampire bats drink
the
of birds. One kind of vampire bat
also drinks the blood of other mammals like cattle.
The study of this bat's saliva may someday help humans with heart problems.
70 Percent of bats eat
. The
Little Brown Bat can eat up to
1,200 night flying insects in just one hour.
This helps all of us.
WHAT KINDS OF HOMES DO THEY HAVE?
Many bats find trees to be the perfect place to roost and spend time taking care of their
babies. Some bats actually live under big leaves and by using camouflage they can hide
from harm and danger. There are other bats that roost under the bark of trees, while still
others just hang from the branches
Perhaps the place where most people think bats live is in caves. And a lot of bats
do find these big underground caverns a perfect place in which to raise their babies
and to sleep during the day. Bracken Cave in Texas has close to 20 million Mexican
Free Tail bats living there.
At times bats may use houses or buildings as a roosting site. Even though these places
are not as good as their natural habitats, these man-made structures do offer them
protection and are much like their preferred roosts.
Wherever there is a bridge, there might also be bats living under it. Even the noise of a
busy road overhead doesn't seem to scare them. As the sun sets, they begin their night
flight out to look for food. It's a beautiful sight to see.
Some bats may find old mines that are no longer being used and set up their colony
there. People often like to explore these mines and when they do, they disturb the bats.
Putting a heavy grate at the mine opening protects the bats. Not all mines are good for
bats. They must be like the caves in which bats also live.
There is another type of home in which bats will live, but often other animals or insects will get
in it first before the bats can . These are bat houses that many people build hoping bats will
move in. There are books in the library on how to build a bat house and where to put it, or
reach the web site of Bat Conservation International which can also help provide plans.
Where In The
Do They Live?
Bats can be found in almost every part of the world except where it is very, very hot
or in the
really cold areas and on some remote islands. They live on all
continents except Antarctica.
You can find more species of bats (different kinds)
where the weather is nice and warm. Those warm spots are near the equator and are called the
"tropics"
and "rain forests."
On islands that are far from continents, there are only a few species of bats. That's
because it's too far for most bats to fly this great distance to reach those islands.
In the United States, the greatest number of bat
species live in the southwestern part of the country.
This area has a variety of places where bats can live and there is a lot of food available during most of
the year . For example, Texas has 32 different kinds of bats while Maine has only 8; and Arizona has
28 species, but Michigan has just 10.
Do you know how many different kinds of bats live in your
part of the world? Do you know what they are? Check
with your library to find the answers to these questions.
Some bats help control the insect population.
For example.
Don't want mosquitoes?
A single little brown bat can catch 600 Mosquitoes in just one hour.
Bugs bugging you?
The 20 million Mexican free-tail bats from Bracken Cave, Texas can eat 250 tons of insects in a night!
photo (c) Merlin Tuttle/Bat Conservation International
HOW DO BATS HELP HUMANS?
Many bats are truly very helpful to people.
Here's How!
BESIDES
With bats eating all those insects, this means fewer chemicals and poisons will be used on crops,
and that's healthier for all of us!
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------Certain Bats are helpful to farmers.
For example.
A colony of just 150 big brown bats can aid farmers by eating up to 18 million or more rootworms each summer.
BESIDES
This saves crops from damage, and makes more food available at the market.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------Many bats spread seeds for new plants and trees.
For example.
Tropical bats are important to rain forests. They pollinate flowers and drop seeds for many trees and bushes.
In the wild, important plants, from bananas and mangos to nuts, dates and figs,
depend upon bats for pollination and seed dropping.
In the southwestern part of the United States, nectar-feeding bats are the main pollinators of the giant saguaro cactus.
BESIDES
By helping to rebuild cut forests, bats are also making sure other animals continue to have homes, shelter and food.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------The Vampire bat might help scientists.
The saliva from the vampire bat is being studied to see if
someday a new medicine can be found to help people with heart problems.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------WE CAN PROTECT BATS BY TELLING OTHERS HOW HELPFUL AND USEFUL THEY ARE.
BUT REMEMBER, BATS ARE WILD ANIMALS AND YOU SHOULD NEVER TOUCH THEM. YOU MUST LEAVE THEM ALONE.
A Really Bad Bat Cartoon
Everybody’s Favorite:
Vampire Bats Desmodus rotundus
Only 1 out of 1000 species feed on the blood of mammals
Found only in Latin America, Mexico & Argentina
Found near herds of cattle or horses – can be a pest & transmit disease – they often
feed on the young or weak animals
Weigh less than 2 ounces & is 4 inches long
Feed on a variety of animals (chickens, cows, horses, pigs)
 since there is a danger of being stepped on, the bats feed at night when the
animals are inactive
How do they find prey?
 good eyesight
 sensitive hearing
 heat sensing pits
Can fly, walk on 2 legs or use wings to walk on 4
Use heat pits to find blood rich part
Use razor sharp teeth – DO NOT SUCK – they lap up the blood (like a cat)
Use an anticoagulant – allows blood to flow without clotting (for a few minutes)
 this is important for people with heart conditions
Can eat for up to 30 minutes – stomach extends – can eat so much they can no
longer fly
Will feed on another’s regurgitated blood – they share! (rare)
Cool Bat Pics
Amazing Bat Trivia
The world's smallest mammal is the bumblebee bat of Thailand, weighing less than a
penny.
Giant flying foxes that live in Indonesia have wingspans of nearly six feet.
The common little brown bat of North America is the world's longest lived mammal for
its size, with life-spans sometimes exceeding 32 years.
Mexican free-tailed bats sometimes fly up to two miles high to feed or to catch tailwinds that carry them over long distances at speeds of more than 60 miles per hour.
The pallid bat of western North America is immune to the stings of scorpions and
even the seven-inch centipedes upon which it feeds.
Fishing bats have echolocation so sophisticated that they can detect a minnow's fin as
fine as a human hair, protruding only two millimeters above a pond's surface.
African heart-nosed bats can hear the footsteps of a beetle walking on sand from a
distance of more than six feet.
Red bats that live in tree foliage throughout most of North America can withstand
body temperatures as low as 23 degrees F. during winter hibernation.
Tiny woolly bats in West Africa live in the large webs of colonial spiders.
The Honduran white bat is snow white with a yellow nose and ears. It cuts large leaves
to make "tents" that protect its small colonies from jungle rains.
Disk-winged bats of Latin America have adhesive disks on both wings and feet that
enable them to live in unfurling banana leaves (or even walk up a window pane!).
Frog-eating bats identify edible from poisonous frogs by listening to the mating calls of
male frogs. Frogs counter by hiding and using short, difficult to locate calls.
Vampire bats adopt orphans and have been known to risk their lives to share food with
less fortunate roost-mates.
Male epauletted bats have pouches in their shoulders which contain large, showy
patches of white fur that they flash during courtship to attract mates.
Mother Mexican free-tailed bats find and nurse their own young, even in huge
colonies where many millions of babies cluster at up to 500 per square foot.
Important Bat Facts
More than 1,100 species of bats account for almost a quarter of all mammal species, and
most are highly beneficial.
Worldwide, bats are an important natural enemies of night-flying insects.
A single little brown bat can catch 1,200 mosquitoes-sized insects in just one hour.
A colony of 150 big brown bats can protect local farmers from up to 33 million or more
rootworms each summer.
The 20 million Mexican free-tails from Bracken Cave, Texas eat approximately 200 tons of
insects nightly.
Tropical bats are key elements in rain forest ecosystems which rely on them to pollinate
flowers and disperse seeds for countless trees and shrubs.
In the wild, important agricultural plants, from bananas, breadfruit and mangoes to
cashews, dates, and figs rely on bats for pollination and seed dispersal.
Tequila is produced from agave plants whose seed production drops to 1/3,000th of normal
without bat pollinators.
Desert ecosystems rely on nectar-feeding bats as primary pollinators of giant cacti, including
the famous organ pipe and saguaro of Arizona.
Bat droppings in caves support whole ecosystems of unique organisms, including bacteria
useful in detoxifying wastes, improving detergents, and producing gasohol and antibiotics.
An anticoagulant from vampire bat saliva may soon be used to treat human heart patients.
Contrary to popular misconception, bats are not blind, do not become entangled in human
hair, and seldom transmit disease to other animals or humans.
All mammals can contract rabies; however, even the less than a half of one percent of bats
that do, normally bite only in self-defense and pose little threat to people who do not handle
them.
Bats are exceptionally vulnerable to extinction, in part because they are the slowest
reproducing mammals on earth for their size, most producing only one young annually.
More than 50% of American bat species are in severe decline or already listed as
endangered. Losses are occurring at alarming rates worldwide.
Loss of bats increases demand for chemical pesticides, can jeopardize whole ecosystems of
other animal and plant species, and can harm human economies.
Websites to Visit:
http://www.kidzone.ws/animals/bats/index.htm
http://www.bats4kids.org/
http://www.defenders.org/wildlife_and_habitat/wil
dlife/bats.php
http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/Animals/Creat
ureFeature/Vampire-bat
The End!
See, bats are really cool!
Bat IQ Quiz
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And now for a video…
And now for a video…