Bats about Bats

Here at the dome we have a family of bats that entertain us every night at sundown.  At first there was just a couple, I decided to name them Edward and Bella. Now they have a third member I am assuming is their child. Her name ( of course) Renesmee.  Every night we sit in the screen dome and watch the bat Cirque Du soleil. There movements are hypnotic and amazing, diving, swooping, lightning fast turns!  What a show!  They really are fascinating little creatures.

There are those that are afraid of bats, hate them, etc.  Lets face it creatures that aren't conventional looking get a bad wrap, spiders, snakes, bats,etc.  But bats are very beneficial. A single brown bat can eat 1000 mosquitoes an hour! And other types of bats are the pollinators of several plants including banana trees and nut trees. The next time you eat a banana split thank a bat. I would suspect there aren't too many people who look upon them adoringly. They cause rabies don't they?! Yeah, no, not any more than any other mammal in fact you have a MUCH better chance of getting rabies from a raccoon, possum or skunk.  In fact it is pretty rare for a bat to contract rabies, but when one does we hear all about it. Sigh.

For a little while I worked for a little local chapter of  Bat Conservancy near John's Pass beach.  It was thrilling and I even got to feed one by hand! But alas now I am too far away from any chapter.

little brown bat at Bat conservancy

My sister was lucky enough to have an entire family living on her front porch under a giant thermometer!

My sister Bert's Bat. Look at those little toes, awwww

 I was a little jealous as I had a bat "house" and no bat came near it!  You can build it but they don't always come.  There is a gigantic bat house up in the northern part of the state that hardly any bat has gone near.  Embarrassing, but the thought was there.

One of the biggest supporters of bats is the Barcardi Rum company. They owe their lively hood in part to their iconic symbol of a bat with spread out wings. It is them and people who work for Bat conservancy http://www.floridabats.org/ whom I want to thank. The world would be much worse without the little creatures who work tirelessly to pollinate our trees and plants and kill disease riddled bugs!