Bats - The Misunderstood Heroes Of The Natural World
Close your eyes, and think of a bat…
What do you think of? A flying rat? An ugly beast? A pest? Maybe even a disease spreader?
The famous writer, Aldous Huxley once wrote:
“There are things known and there are things unknown, and in between are the doors of perception”
Not many other creatures suffer from people’s perceptions as much as bats do. Their reputation well & truly precedes them. So, why do modest little bats have such a bad name?
According to Dr Miles Carroll, Deputy Director and Head of Research & Development Institute of Public Health England…
“Bats have gotten a really bad name because of the high profile pathogens that they do carry, such as Ebola, Rabies, Marburg, or Nipah, some of which can be deadly”
Concerns over bats being carriers of the disease are not unfounded. Experts now estimate that 75% of all emerging human infectious diseases originate in animal populations, among them bats, but they are far from the only mammals. Other animals such as dogs and cats, also find themselves on the list of potential hosts to various diseases that can affect humans. So, they are far from being the only such creatures. It’s easy to see the issues with bats. But what about the benefits of bats? Are they really unsung heroes in the animal kingdom?
One overlooked fact about bats is that many species consume pests such as mosquitoes, flying termites, moths, and beetles. Bats can eat up to half their body weight in insects, while pregnant or nursing mothers consume up to 100 per cent of their body weight each night. Scientists estimate that insect-eating, or insectivorous, bats may save U.S. farmers roughly $23 billion each year by reducing crop damage and limiting the need for pesticides. Also, research has shown that bats can help control pests in cotton fields and pecan groves in Texas and rice fields in Thailand.
There are nine species of bat that are resident in Ireland. All of the Irish bats are insectivores i.e. their diet consists only of insects. However, pest control isn’t the only way bats assist their ecosystems. Outside of Ireland, many species of bats are also powerful pollinators - especially in tropical & desert climates.
Pollination is an essential ecological survival function. Without it, the human race and all of earth's terrestrial ecosystems would not survive. The majority of flowering plants can’t produce seeds & fruit without pollination. This involves moving the stamen (male part of the flower) to the pistil (female part of the flower). But how do Bats play their part in the pollination process?
Throughout time, plants and mammals have shared a dependency on one another that is mutually beneficial. So naturally, these bats feed on flowers, including those of valuable crops, like figs, dates, mangoes and peaches, that have flowers that only open at night.
Finally, fruit-eating bats play a huge role in restoring and maintaining one of the planet's most valuable ecosystems, rainforests. Bats acting as seed dispersers scatter seeds across cleared areas by dropping seeds back into the ground. Night-foraging fruit bats cover large distances and thus are vital for ensuring diversity. Seeds dropped by bats can sometimes account for up to 95% of the first new growth.
Hopefully, you can now see how vital bats are in maintaining the health of a wide range of ecosystems worldwide. However, like many other creatures, bats are now facing an unprecedented threat from a wide range of factors like accelerating climate change, habitat destruction & invasive species.
Image by Denley Photography via Unsplash
There are 1,400 species of bat worldwide, distributed across all six continents. However, 83 of these species are considered endangered, with 21 considered critically endangered (meaning they face the imminent risk of extinction).
Climate change is affecting every single species of plant and animal on the planet in a number of different ways, and bats are no exception to this. A recent study found that dozens of bat species roosting in parts of the world predicted to get hotter and drier with climate change will need to shift their ranges to find suitable habitats. According to this research, for about half of the species studied, areas with a habitable climate would shrink. This is due to extreme weather conditions like drought, which would take away a basic need for survival, water. Previous research has shown that bat reproduction declines dramatically during drought.
This is only one example of how climate change and the extreme weather events it causes will affect bat populations worldwide. For example, Flying foxes are dying at an increasing rate during Australia's deadly heat waves. These fruit-eating bats have adapted to Australia's warm climate, but when the outside temperature rises above 40 degrees Celsius, they are unable to regulate their body temperature. Over two days in November 2018, a record-breaking heatwave in Australia's north wiped out almost one-third of the nation's spectacled flying foxes, according to researchers.
These extreme temperatures and droughts aren’t the only perils that bats face. The continued loss of habitat worldwide is reducing bat populations at an alarming rate. The loss of forests is especially problematic, as they are used by a large number of bat species for roosting and foraging. Worldwide, forests are being cleared and harvested to make room for crops, pastures & cities. Global gross deforestation amounted to 6.8 million hectares (MHA) in 2021 — an area comparable in size to the Republic of Ireland. At Cloudforests, we are creating enhanced forest habitats for bats and many other creatures all along Ireland’s Wild Atlantic Way.
If these adverse climatic and habitat conditions weren’t enough, bats are facing a relatively new threat in the shape of a deadly disease, White Nose Syndrome. This fungal disease has been responsible for the deaths of millions of bats, especially in North America, since it was discovered in 2006. This disease affects hibernating bat species by stirring them from their hibernation, causing them to burn their winter fat stores, and causing starvation.
However, mother nature isn’t the only thing which bats must contend with to survive, human activities remain one of the biggest threats to bat populations worldwide. In part because of the harmful & untrue perception which we discussed previously. In Latin America, bats are persecuted because of false myths, which are widespread. For example, it’s commonly believed that all bats are vampires (only three species feed on blood). Meanwhile, in Southeast Asia, fruit-eating bats are hunted for a wide variety of reasons like local & commercial consumption, and folk medicine.
As you can see, bats are unsung heroes of the natural world. They work the night shift, eating insects, pollinating flowers, and spreading seeds to help our environment. However, they are becoming more and more threatened by habitat loss, disease, persecution and deforestation. We must come together to ensure that these misunderstood creatures are.
At Cloudforests, we are passionate about enhancing our forests to ensure they remain bat hotspots. We retain our hedgerows and create our treelines with bats in mind, creating corridors to allow bats to move freely around our forests. Our native Irish trees & shrubs also entice and conserve bats by providing them with areas to roost & forage. Finally, we are in the process of creating bat boxes to house any bats which are located in our forests. This will also become an educational resource as we install cameras within these boxes.
If you want to learn more about our conservation efforts at Cloudforests, follow the link below:
