Embrace the Bat

Bats, they conjure up images of moonless nights and howling coyotes with the unknown waiting to swoop down and peck out your eyes right as you turn into the alley, nonsense, rubbish and a downright lie.  The poor innocent, blind bat is just trying to survive.  Bats are a huge asset to a garden and should be embraced and revered.  Why are bats such a stupendous inhabitant of the garden, because they gobble up mosquitoes and other pesky insects often times at the rate of 1,200 small-sized insects in one hour!  Personally, I am much more fearful of some insect born disease like West Nile Virus than I am of the misunderstood bat.

Granted, bats are not the most adorable little mammals; they look a little scary with their claw-type hands and arms that appear as if a cape is attached to them.  A science fiction writer probably could not have concocted a more terrifying looking little animal.  In fact, bats are such a different and unique breed of species of mammals that scientists have placed them in a category all their own, the Chiroptera, which means hand-wing.  There is the Megachiroptera, which are commonly referred to as flying foxes because of their fox-like faces.  Then there is the Microchiroptera and that is the more common bat that is found worldwide. 

Todd Olson, Owner of Critter Control of Kaw Valley deals with a lot of bats and try’s to explain the fear that surrounds them, “I believe this is part myth (vampire, Dracula, etc.), part misinformation regarding the frequency of disease (rabies), plus bats are rarely seen.  People in general are fearful of the unknown/unseen and when you throw in a few frightening movies soon you have a ‘real’ imagined menace to society.” 

Myths & Rumors

Let’s debunk some of the myths and rumors that swarm bats.  Bat rabies account for approximately one human death a year.  The death toll because of rabies contracted from dogs is a far greater threat to humans.  There is also no evidence that bats transmit rabies to other animals.  Bats are nocturnal; they hunt in the dim hours of sunset and sunrise.  Which is why they are rarely seen.  They use a form of sonar known as echolocation and they literally hear their way through the world. 

Sadly, bats rank as North America’s most rapidly declining and endangered land mammals – mostly in part to the exaggerated human fear and persecution the bat has had to endure.  Dr. Robert Timm, Curator of Mammals at the KU Natural History Museum & Biodiversity Center, states, “Bats have roamed the skies for 40-45 million years and perhaps longer.”  It would be a catastrophe to lose these priceless mammals.  There are 15 bat species in Kansas all of whom are insectivorous meaning they only feed off of insects.  In fact bats are the primary predators of vast numbers of insects, if we lost the bats the farmers would lose much of their crops and it would be much less enjoyable to spend an evening outdoors with the swarms of mosquitoes and other insects.

One of the reasons that the bat population is in such decline is that they usually only breed one offspring annually (which the females then nurse) and they tend to live in large colonies that can be easily wiped out by one calamity.  Olson says, “Bats are the only flying mammal.  The females group together during the summer months to give birth and raise their offspring in nursing colonies.  A nursing female bat can identify her pup by voice and then to confirm its identity by smell.”

Some of the maladies that have aided in the decline of the bat populace are the decline of the wetlands, which are breeding grounds for insects, the over-use of pesticides by gardeners, and as Timm states, “Wind generators that are going up in the Flint Hills are extremely harmful to bats.  They are killing bats in huge numbers across the country.”

Aiding the Bats

What can be done to help the bats thrive and continue to be a huge part of the checks and balances of our ecosystem?  Gardeners can plant a variety of perennials, herbs and night-blooming flowers to lure insects that, in turn, will attract bats.   Try to avoid using pesticides in the garden.  Olson suggests, “A ‘bat friendly’ gardener can install a yard light or light of some kind above the garden.  This will lure insects.”  Bats are also drawn to water and in fact need an abundance of it; they are especially vulnerable to dehydration, sometimes losing 30% of their body weight in evaporative water loss in a single afternoon.  Adding a water feature can be quite a temptation for the bats.  There is a misconception about bat houses that Timm wants to debunk, “Bat houses are not effective here in this part of Kansas as our species don’t regularly use these types of houses.”

Eradicating the Bats

If you do have a bat colony Olson stresses that they respect the bat, he states, “We go to great effort to work around the bat’s reproductive cycle. We do evict the bats from buildings before and after the nursing season, but not during.  We inspect buildings, repair a majority of openings and finally evict the bats using one-way doors or bat valves when the time is right.  After the eviction is complete we make the final repair to the entry point. In Kansas Grey Bats are listed as endangered and Palid bats are on the State’s SINC list.  SINC is an acronym for “species in need of conservation”.  We believe that we can serve our customers and work in harmony with bat’s life cycle to create a win-win situation.”

So, gardeners should rejoice at the sight of a bat prowling the property at dusk and hope that there are more just waiting for night to fall.

Common Bats In Lawrence:

• Big Brown Bats:  The most common bat in this area, averaging between 4-5 inches in length and has a wingspan of around 13 inches.  Some favorite roosts are attics, barns, bell towers, behind window shutters.  They prey on June bugs, stinkbugs, mosquitoes, leafhoppers and cucumber beetles.

• Little Brown Bats:  They look much like Big Brown Bats but smaller between 3-4 inches in length.