Do you believe in the several misconceptions about bats? Do you believe they are pests as opposed to beneficial? Do all bats "go for blood?" Do they fly into your hair because they are blind?

There are many myths and legends about bats. Some are half-truths expanded upon by lack of true understanding, some are cultural beliefs and others are false and most likely the result of wild imaginations and movies. The fact is that most bats are actually quite harmless and are very important for humans and the environment.

Bats are indicators of a healthy environment and play a vital role in the cycle of life. They disperse seeds, pollinate plants and some eat insects. West Nile Virus has made us think twice about mosquito bites and how to rid your home and yards of mosquito nesting grounds. Bats are a natural advantage in fighting mosquito populations and the spread of disease. Bats are sensitive to high pollution and pesticide levels and can warn us of potential environmental issues.

Bats are curious, intelligent and uniquely impressive in so many different ways:

• Bats are the ONLY flying mammals.
• Bats can live for over 30 years - but are adversely affected by geographic location, lifestyle, human pollution and destruction of their natural habitats, which considerably lessen their chances of living that long.
• Bats are closely related to primates, which is our order!
• Bats have a highly developed and accurate navigational system called echolocation.
• Bats have remained the same on the evolution scale for millions of years, unlike any other mammal on earth. In fact, there are no documented cases of anyone ever finding a bat fossil that does not look very much like the bat we have today. This means bats are most likely much older than we ever imagined. Currently, they are on the order of 60 million years old.

Here are a few myths and facts to clarify the truth about bats.

Here are a few common questions and answers found in an excellent resource book called Bats in Question, The Smithsonian Answer Book by Don E. Wilson to further clarify the facts about bats.

"Bats are not a threat to humans in the sense of mounting a direct attack or flying into your hair. With the rare exception of vampire bats in Latin America, they will almost never approach a human with anything other than curiosity in mind. They can, however, harbor diseases that can affect humans."

"Diseased bats can theoretically be found anywhere. That is why bats that are out of place, acting strangely, or unafraid of humans should be avoided. However, the odds of you being killed by a bat-borne disease are much less than one in a million, and you face greater danger from honeybee stings or bathtub falls than from any sort of health risk from bats."

"The most serious disease bats can carry is rabies, and the potential threat of rabies argues against handling bats, particularly if they are acting strangely or let you approach without trying to escape. This said, it should be stressed that bats are no more likely to harbor rabies than many other mammals, and much less so than some species. In the wild only a fraction of a percent of bats are rabid. Bats are much more likely to transmit rabies to other bats than to other species of mammals. In most areas where rabies outbreaks occur, the strain of the virus has been traced back to dogs, cats, raccoons, skunks, or other mammals."

"Another disease occasionally associated with bats is Histoplasmosis, caused by the fungus Histoplasma capsulatum. It is possible for humans to become infected with this disease by breathing in the spores, which are sometimes found in large, dry, dusty accumulations of mass bird or bat droppings. Avoidance of these situations should virtually eliminate the danger of contracting this disease. If it is necessary for you to remove large accumulations of dry guano from an attic or other enclosed area, using a respirator should protect you from this risk."

"Humans have created havoc with the environment of most other kinds of animals, but there are a few species that have adapted comfortably to the ways of people. Several species of bats have taken to buildings as if they own the places. Attics, barns, outbuildings, and the like mimic the ancient snag or cave roosts that were probably the ancestral refuges of these species. Such environments provide the requisite dark, relatively temperature-stable refuge from predators that most species of bats require for a daytime retreat. The fact that these quarters are shared with a family of Homo sapiens below is of little consequence to the bats. All they need is a tiny entrance and exit hole and freedom from disturbance."

"To avoid a large colony of bats using your attic, the only solution is to block all potential entrances with bird netting. Of course this needs to be done when the bats are not present. The best time to do repairs is during the winter, when the bats will likely have moved to cooler quarters to hibernate."

"If your bats are year round residents, you will need to do the repairs at night, when they are foraging. This will also require ensuring that there are no young left behind so that you do not inadvertently trap them inside. In North America, June, July, and August are the most likely times for young to be in the roost. Mount a bat roost on a pole or the side of a building an alternative to your attic."

"A sick bat should be left strictly alone. Call you local animal control office to deal with the animal. If you have to remove such an animal from the house, use thick gloves and make sure the bat is placed where it will not be found by pets or other animals. Bats that are flying normally are unlikely to be sick, but animals that are on the ground or unable to fly should be assumed to be sick and treated with caution."

"For temperate zone bats, the main value is insect control. These little insectivores put away enormous quantities of insects every summer night, all over the northern and southern hemispheres. Bats' efforts at pest control are also a boon for orchardists and farmers. In addition, the guano that bats produce is a valuable fertilizer, in both natural ecosystems and agricultural systems."

"These insectivores have the added benefit of serving as indicators of health of the ecosystem. The free-tailed bat declines of the 1960's were a wake-up call to the dangers of long-lived pesticides in the environment. Such pollutions signals are going to be increasingly important in our world of ever-expanding human populations and economic development."

"In the tropics bats are even more valuable to the functioning of natural and agricultural environments. They serve as pollinators and seed dispersal agents for hundreds, and probably thousands, of species of tropical plants. Many plants have adapted to the benefits of this service by opening flowers and producing nectar only at night to attract the bats. Others produce fruits whose seeds are distributed well away from the parent plants by flying bats."

"These ecosystem services are vitally important to virtually every major habitat type on earth. Bats are missing only from polar ecosystems and a few small, remote oceanic islands. The loss of significant numbers of species of bats would have far-reaching consequences for the other animals and the plants that share their communities."

"Recent advances in pharmacological studies have suggested potentially valuable uses for the anticoagulant compounds found in vampire bats' saliva. Prospecting for new drugs in an important growth industry in many parts of the developing world, and finding such a potentially valuable resource in an animal that has been severely persecuted as a pest is an interesting object lesson in why we should protect all our natural resources."

"Beyond all these practical reasons for protecting a valuable resource, bats are part of our natural heritage, to be enjoyed for purely aesthetic reasons. Furthermore, surely these remarkable products of millions of years of evolution have every right to exist for their own sake, regardless of any value system imposed by humans."

It is my hope that people take the time to learn about bats as they are truly remarkable and need to be redeemed from the merciless persecution so undeservingly placed upon them by humans. I encourage people to invite bats into their world. The Birds, Bugs & Beyond Nature Store has a wide variety of bat roosting shelters and will be adding more bat literature to the library in the Spring.