Not many people are aware that 2011-2012 has been designated by the United Nations as the year of the bat. They have designated these two years to bring awareness to bats because of their significance to the environment around us and around the world. There are many species of bats throughout the nation that have become endangered in the past years, which has significantly affected the environment. One major thing the United Nations has been trying to do is to help these endangered bats recover to a healthy population. It is very important that people become aware of the efforts that have been put in to help bats as well as lend a helping hand themselves.
There are more than 1,200 species of bats known today and there are still more being discovered. Bats also take up 5 percent of all the mammals in the world. Forty five of the 1,200 species live in the United States, but 50 percent of them are endangered. In fact, the Indiana bat is on the endangered species list in Pennsylvania. As I said, bats play a huge role in our ecosystems. Most bats eat insects, which helps farmers. The bats eat bugs that would otherwise destroy farmer’s crops. Bats eat up to 3,000 to 6,000 bugs a night. Aside from farming help they also eat mosquitoes that can carry deadly diseases such as the West Nile virus. If we keep simply ignoring the decline of these valuable creatures, then we will be hurting our own economy and possibly our health.
There are many reasons for the decline in bats. One is the loss of their woodland habitat due to increased urbanization. Another is “white-nose syndrome” which is a white fungus that forms on bats’ faces and wings during hibernation. Right now researchers don’t know why the fungus forms on the bats, but it has devastating results because it causes bats to awake too early during hibernation and die because they freeze or starve to death in the middle of winter. There is a cave in Bucks County where as many as 10,000 bats usually hibernate, but only 192 bats were counted last year. Finally, human prejudice is another reason for the decline in bats because people mistakenly believe them to be vermin and carry diseases, when in fact they are vital to our ecosystem.
One way to help bats is to follow simple rules like not going into restricted caves that are only for bats. You can also take matters into your own hands by building a bat house for bats that lost their home from people cutting down trees or invading caves. You can find many designs for these bat houses online along with other ways to help. A few weeks ago at the Chester County Council Boy Scouts of America day camp for Cub Scouts where I volunteered, one project at the craft station was making wooden bat houses. Every scout in the camp made one to take home and hang up, which you can imagine must have been a lot of new homes for the bats! You can play a big role to help to preserve these helpful and significant animals by encouraging bats to come to your property.
CJ McClure
Boy Scout Troop 31
Chadds Ford Township
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