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Show OCTOBER SPECIES OF THE 1995 and drag- We are now realizing the niche and value of bats in the environment. Home owners are now hanging bat houses. They are enjoying onflies, bats eat on the wing, each observing head first from their roosts is most common. Their agile wings and bodies are designed for chasing flying MONTH insects. The Night Belongs Just like swallows consuming 700-1,000 mosquitoes, moths and midges nightly. Not only are bats incredibly maneuverable, but they can fly long distances as well. All bats spend days sleeping upside down in caves, old mine shafts, under bridges, in eaves of buildings, and in trees. They even give birth hanging upside-down. Naked, pink newborns learn to hang on to mom or a bit of perch from the moment of birth. Not all bats are blood sucking or rabid. Bats in Utah eat mostly insects, but will consume fruit, nectar and pollen as well. One species of bat in the tropics eats only fruit. Vampire bats do exist, but they are a tropical species, not native to temperate Transylvania. They usually prey on cattle, biting and then lapping a tiny bats at dusk, and are notic- ing a marked decrease in mosquitoes around their evening barbecues. WW: need bats. Bats aid pollination by sipping nectar from night blooming flowers. They transport seeds by eating fruit. The vital role of bats, however, is consuming thousands of flying insects. Those lazy porch-swing evenings would be more buggy, if it weren’t for the constant feasting of bats—which are all around us by the way—hundreds of them. Bats devour large numbers of insects, pollinate flowers and disperse seeds. Clearly, bats fill an essential ecological niche and are essential to human comfort. Invite them to your next barbecue. Provide them a nice roost, 20 feet off the ground, to sleep off a night of feasting. @ Range and Distribution One species of Leaf Nosed Bat near St. George. Eighteen other species broadly dispersed throughout Utah. By Pamela Mills Poulson Manager, Environmental Education Red Butte Garden FF. is a lazy time. Even the night sky is relaxed. The constellation of the brave warrior Orion reclines along the southeast horizon, and just before dawn, bright Cappella rises, blinking through the thick lens of atmosphere, beating red, blue, red, blue, red, in imitation of a westbound 747 Closer at hand, the yellow-pink of excited sodium vapor street lamps casts stark black shadows on pavement-hard and plant-soft surfaces An irregular series of flickers interrupts the unnatural glare. Thronging the bulb in agile pursuit of insects drawn to the light, bats, the owners of the night, dive into the darkness on silent wings. Bats are thought of as an especially appropriate accessory for this month’s Halloween ghoulies. Bats have been a spooky topic around the world since man first noticed them. Their mysterious nocturnal activities, their inverted sleeping postures, their hideous winged fingers and ugly, wrinkled faces provide copious fodder for scary stories. Besides, they are flying mammals—it ain’t natural! Most superstitions, myths and legends were born of fear and misunderstanding of the seemingly grotesque. Bat fly-bys cause many of us to run shrieking for cover, crouching as if under sniper fire. O.K., so they’re Habitat In caves, old mine shafts, under bridges, in eaves of buildings, and in and Arboretum trees. ugly. Eyes too small to see out of are imbedded in the wrinkles of pushed in faces. Their ears are too big, distorted and deformed. They have translucent, leathery membranes between their long bony fingers. Their flight patterns Natural habitat endangered. Food Omnivorous, mainly insects, but will eat fruit, nectar and pollen. Life Span Up to 20 years in some species. are crazily errat- IC Before you run for cover know Bats are as harmless, clean, intelligent and beneficial as they are ugly. Consider this: Bats are not blind. They have eyes as well developed as most other mammals, but their added advantage is their ability to “see” in the darkness by echolocation. Utilizing this incredible sense of bio-radar, bats are hyperaware of what is around them. They emit ultrasonic sound waves through the mouth or nose, and then determine the position of an object by the manner in which the wave is reflected. Their face wrinkles and overlarge ears serve as radar dishes. The more crinkled the face and the bigger the this: ears, the better the reception. ats really fly. Their featherless wings and long, skeletal fingers may be gruesome, but they are true wings. The only other mammals that “fly” are flying squirrels. Flying squirrels don’t fly. They glide. If they are caught on the ground, they can’t take off—except on foot. Bats on the other hand, from can take off on the wing anywhere, although dropping portion of blood, until the beast moves and the bat flies off. Mosquitoes do the same thing, but unlike the mosquito, blood is not the Vampire’s only food source. Bats can become rabid, but so can dogs, cats, squirrels, skunks, even COWS. The main symptom of bat rabidity is the inability to fly. Bats stranded on the ground are a rare sight. Bizarre zooming and diving are normal insect chasing tactics, but beware of bats on the ground. If you see a bat on the ground, call County Animal Control. With over 850 species worldwide and 19 species in Utah, bats are the second largest group of mammals following rodents. They range in size from the large fruit eating flying foxes of the tropics to tiny Pipistrelles of Utah, the smallest bat in the United States. A husky Pipistrelle weighs in at one tenth of an ounce. Indiscriminate use of chlorinated hydrocarbon pesticides and habitat destruction decreased bat populations during the twentieth century. PAGE 6 Have Fun, Make Friends & Money a egit for Wasatch The Mountain Experienced Sales People CALL 801-649-8046 |