Reblogged from http://www.buzzfeed.com
And rabies.
Say these people here.
These people say that bats pollinate a bunch of different plants and/or spread their seeds. Seed production of the agave plants used to make tequila drops to 1/3000th of normal without bats to pollinate them.
The bats are back!! It’s been years since I’ve seen so many in the night skies !!
I first noticed the frisky flyers a few evenings ago. It’s been a wet summer, and mosquitoes, the bats’ favorite treat, are in abundance.
My next door neighbor was worried the bats were eating my bees, but I assured her that they prefer smaller and less prickly prey. If they eat a few bees, it’s no real loss. And we could do with a LOT fewer mosquitoes!!
This is good news because bats (specifically the “Indiana bats”) are an endangered species in Ohio.
The Indiana bat was listed as endangered in 1967 due to episodes of people disturbing hibernating bats in caves during winter, resulting in the death of large numbers of bats. Indiana bats are vulnerable to disturbance because they hibernate in large numbers in only a few caves (the largest hibernation caves support from 20,000 to 50,000 bats). Other threats that have contributed to the Indiana bat’s decline include commercialization of caves, loss of summer habitat, pesticides and other contaminants, and most recently, the disease white-nose syndrome.
Indiana bats are found over most of the eastern half of the United States. Almost half of them hibernate in caves in southern Indiana. The 2009 population estimate was about 387,000 Indiana bats, less than half as many as when the species was listed as endangered in 1967.
Indiana bats are quite small, weighing only one-quarter of an ounce (about the weight of three pennies) although in flight they have a wingspan of 9 to 11 inches. Their fur is dark-brown to black. They hibernate during winter in caves or, occasionally, in abandoned mines. During summer they roost under the peeling bark of dead and dying trees. Indiana bats eat a variety of flying insects found along rivers or lakes and in uplands.
White nose syndrome (WNS) is an illness that has killed over a million bats since 2006 when dead and dying bats, with the distinctive “white nose,” were first observed. “White nose” refers to a ring of white fungus often seen on the faces and wings of affected bats. First observed in a cave in New York in February 2006, white-nose syndrome has spread from New York caves to caves in Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Pennsylvania,
So why should we care?
Bats are essential to the health of our natural world. They help control pests and are vital pollinators and seed-dispersers for countless plants. Yet these wonderfully diverse and beneficial creatures are among the least studied and most misunderstood of animals.
Centuries of myths and misinformation still generate needless fears and threaten bats and their habitats around the world. Bat populations are declining almost everywhere. Losing bats would have devastating consequences for natural ecosystems and human economies. Knowledge is the key. Bat Conservation International has been combining education, research and conservation to protect bats worldwide since 1982.
The more than 1,200 species of bats – about one-fifth of all mammal species – are incredibly diverse. They range from the world’s smallest mammal, the tiny bumblebee bat that weighs less than a penny to giant flying foxes with six-foot wingspans. Except for the most extreme desert and polar regions, bats have lived in almost every habitat on Earth since the age of the dinosaurs.
Bats are primary predators of night-flying insects, including many of the most damaging agricultural pests and others that bedevil the rest of us. More than two-thirds of bat species hunt insects, and they have healthy appetites. A single little brown bat can eat up to 1,000 mosquito-sized insects in a single hour, while a pregnant or lactating female bat typically eats the equivalent of her entire body weight in insects each night.
Almost a third of the world’s bats feed on the fruit or nectar of plants. In return for their meals, these bats are vital pollinators of countless plants (many of great economic value) and essential seed dispersers with a major role in regenerating rainforests.
So, bats are the honey bees of the night. I’m celebrating their return to the Cincinnati skies!!
One of my favorite online plant purveyors, Wayside Gardens, has 61 new perennial cultivars this year, many of them bee favorites.
There are few, if any, flowers bees and other pollinators love better than English Lavender. Wayside Gardens is offering two new English Lavenders this year, “Essence Purple” and “Silver Mist”.
An English Lavender extraordinaire, ‘Essence Purple’ is the variety for those of us who can never have too much Lavender in garden and home. Bushier, better branched, and perhaps even more fragrant than others, it is simply heavenly in color, form, and scent. Find new places to tuck this magnificent plant in your sunny garden and patio this season!
One of the most beautiful of English Lavenders, ‘Silver Mist’ sets nearly white foliage with a soft, fuzzy aura that looks like clouds in the garden. The flowers are pure sky-blue and continue over an especially long season. Compact, well-branched, and marvelously fragrant in bloom and leaf, it’s a must-have for the sunny garden and fine containers.
Both Lavenders are evergreen in mild areas and deer-resistant.
An herb, Lavender is useful for everything from potpourri to Everlastings to air freshener. Cut branches to tuck into your linen closet, use the flowers to perfume tea and sweets, and admire the pollinators that are drawn to these plants all season long. Every garden needs at least one stand of Lavender!
I just read a very funny post by Emily Heath at Adventuresinbeeland’s Blog about some of the more unusual search terms people used to find her blog in 2012.
A few examples:
‘woodlice droppings’ – 16 times
Urgh. I have failed to find any photos of woodlice droppings on my blog to keep these people happy. My internet research suggests that woodlice droppings are about 1mm in width and look like black dust particles.
‘what do hives look like on adults’ – 6 times
Wrong type of hives.
‘what causes hives under the armpits’ – 2 times
Not bees.
‘honey dripping on body’ – 2 times
Think they wanted a different kind of blog!
‘jon and sarah pie and mash wedding’ – 1 time
Huh?
Inspired by Emily, I took a look at the search terms people used to find my blog in 2012.
What I realized was that my blog posts can be, well, a bit random. Not always about bees, gardening and cooking with honey.
For instance, I posted about hedgehogs.
I really like hedgehogs. Evidently, so do a lot of other people. Some of the terms used to find it:
hedgehogs
baby hedgehog
two hedgehogs
hedgehog pictures
hedgehog images
baby hedgehog pictures
adorable hedgehog
brown hedgehog
mini hedgehog
are hedgehogs soft
hedgehog names
sad hedgehog
young hedgehog
Almost as popular was my post about lightning bugs…
lightning bugs
firefly insect
firefly bug
lightning bugs at night
pictures of lightning bugs
light bugs
lightning bugs in a jar
beautiful firefly
lightning bug images
how to make lightning bugs in a jar
lightning bugs in a mason jar
lightning bug season ohio
lighting insects
And then there were a few posts about bats and how cute they can be…
cute bat
cute bat photos
bat stamps
cute bat pictures
But no Bee Blog would be complete without the Eternal Question…
is honey bee poop or vomit?
is honey made of bee poop?
NO!! 🙂
Back when US postage stamps cost 37 cents, the Post Office issued the most awesome stamps ever. Bat Stamps!
I bought reams of them! I used them on all my mail and I gave them as gifts.
The gift recipients were always a bit taken aback…
Nothing made me happier than a bat stamp.
But I’ll let you judge for yourself….
Perhaps beauty is in the eye of the beholder. But I’m still bummed that I can’t buy bat stamps anymore. They always made my day…
Statement by Dr. Merlin Tuttle regarding Year of the Bat Celebration
I’m delighted to serve as Honorary Ambassador for the 2011-2012 Year of the Bat campaign and wish the very best of success to all who participate. Education regarding the essential roles of bats in maintaining healthy ecosystems and human economies has never been more important. Bats are found nearly everywhere and approximately 1,200 species account for almost a quarter of all mammals. Nevertheless, in recent decades their populations have declined alarmingly. Many are now endangered, though they provide invaluable services that we cannot afford to lose.
Simply because they are active only at night and difficult to observe and understand, bats rank among our planet’s most misunderstood and intensely persecuted mammals. Those that eat insects are primary predators of the vast numbers that fly at night, including ones that cost farmers and foresters billions of dollars in losses annually. As such bats decline, demands for dangerous pesticides grow, as does the cost of growing crops like rice, corn and cotton.
Fruit and nectar-eating bats are equally important in maintaining whole ecosystems of plant life. In fact, their seed dispersal and pollination services are crucial to the regeneration of rain forests which are the lungs and rain makers of our planet.
Many of the plants which depend on such bats are additionally of great economic value, their products ranging from timber and tequila to fruits, spices, nuts and even natural pesticides.
Scary media stories notwithstanding, bats are remarkably safe allies. Where I live, in Austin, Texas, 1.5 million bats live in crevices beneath a single downtown bridge. When they began moving in, public health officials warned that they were diseased and dangerous–potential attackers of humans. Yet, through Bat Conservation International, we educated people to simply not handle them, and 30 years later, not a single person has been attacked or contracted a disease. Fear has been replaced by love as these bats catch 15 metric tons of insects nightly and attract 12 million tourist dollars each summer.
It is now well demonstrated that people and bats can share even our cities at great mutual benefit. As we will show through varied Year of the Bat activities, bats are much more than essential. They’re incredibly fascinating, delightfully likeable masters of our night skies.