Why Bats Are Actually the Best: How to Help This Misunderstood Pollinator Thrive
At least six types of these amazing animals have landed on the United States endangered species list, including two in Georgia. Even more fall into the threatened category. They’ve been characterized as scary, creepy, or even spine-chilling, but they play a crucial role in ecosystems all over the world. We’ve put together some major reasons you should appreciate their existence, as well as ways you can protect them. You’ll be a super fan before you know it!
Photo by Clément Falize on Unsplash
They’re the reason we have chocolate.
Just like birds, fruit-eating bats help spread seeds from one location to another by way of their digestive cycles. They’re especially important in rainforest environments, where they aid in the dispersement of plants like figs, palms, allspice, nuts, and you guessed it, cacao. They enable new growth to occur in cleared and damaged areas, and essentially act as nature’s gardeners. Researchers estimate that on average, one square meter of the rainforest floor can contain 12 to 80 bat-dispersed seeds each year.
You can also thank them for avocados.
Other bats have more in common with bees. As they travel from flower to flower drinking nectar, they transfer pollen and enable the plants to produce fruit and seeds. Bats are known to pollinate over 700 plants, including bananas, breadfruit, peaches, mangoes, and agave. We rely on them for food and medicine, and without them, many ecosystems would gradually collapse. This includes the baobab in East Africa, also known as the “tree of life” for the huge variety of species it supports.
Bats eat LOTS of bugs.
Our furry winged friends consume an incredible number of night-flying insects, including the dreaded mosquito. Some have been known to eat as many as 1,200 in one hour of feeding! This has obvious benefits for human health, as many bugs spread disease, and their diet also benefits farmers. Bats reduce the need for pesticides and prevent produce from being damaged by pests—in the United States, they save us between $3.7 and 54 billion in pest control services every year. They’ve been documented eating bugs that attack pecans, almonds, rice, cotton, corn, coffee, sugarcane, tomatoes, cucumbers, and beans. That means more food for us.
How can you lend a hand?
Habitat loss is one major contributor to the decline of bats. Consider creating a home for them in your own backyard if you can. If you have old or dead trees on your property, and it’s safe to leave them standing, go ahead and do so. They may become spots for them to roost! You can also purchase or build a bat house for them to live in. Most importantly, remember not to bother them, especially at certain times of the year. In early summer, pups are being born and can’t fly. In the winter, bats hibernate, just like bears, and if disturbed they can exhaust their limited fat reserves.