Bats

Douglas and I finally went to the bat sanctuary. We learned more than we ever thought possible about bats but more importantly we gained a new appreciation for them. A bat is basically a mouse with wings however…

• Without bats we would not have tequila - Tequila is produced from agave plants whose seed production drops to 1/3,000th of normal without bat pollinators.
• Bat’s pollinate more than birds and bee’s and human are causing them to become an endangered species.
• Without bats there would not be sufficient tropical reforestation - Tropical bats are key elements in rain forest ecosystems, which rely on them to pollinate flowers and disperse seeds for countless trees and shrubs.
  
• Bats spend more time grooming themselves than even the most image-obsessed teenager. They clean themselves and each other meticulously by licking and scratching for hours.
• For their size, bats are the slowest reproducing mammals on Earth, they only have one baby at a time. At birth, a pup weighs up to 25 percent of its mother’s body weight, which is like a human mother giving birth to a 31 pound baby! All of the females will help to raise the babies/pup’s.

I am going to get a bat house (similar to a birdhouse) for my backyard when I get home. Am I a tree hugger trying to save the species…yes. However bats eat over 1,000 mosquito’s per hour!!! They are the best mosquito zapper you can have!!