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Bats! (October 31, 2003, Two)

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Program Summary

What comes in 1,100 varieties, varies in size from 2 grams to more than 2 pounds, and can eat half its body weight in insects every night?

Bats, of course, the only true flying mammals.

Ira and his guests dispel several bat myths. For example, bats don’t fly into people’s hair. They aren’t blind. They aren’t rodents or birds. Most of them don’t drink blood. And not one has turned into Dracula yet. Bats have simply gotten a bad rap. But as the experts point out, they are incredibly beneficial creatures to have around, not only because they eat insect pests, but also because some species help pollinate plants.

Bats also possess the ability, called echolocation, to find prey using sound waves. It works like this. The bat emits a very high-pitched sound, the waves of which literally bounce off a flying insect. The bat picks up the returning sound waves and zeroes in on the bug. Gulp! It’s bat brunch.

Despite bats’ unique abilities and beneficial qualities, many species are endangered. Like so many other animals, they are victims of habitat loss, pollution, and misunderstanding. Ira and his guests hope to turn this around, and you can help by turning students on to the wonders of bats.

Guests

William Gannon, Biology collections manager at the Museum of Southwestern Biology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque

Thomas H. Kunz, professor of Biology and director of the Center for Ecology and Conservation Biology at Boston University in Boston

Related Links and Resources

Bat Conservation International
Bat Conservation Trust
Centers for Disease Control: Bats and Rabies
Howstuffworks: How Bats Work
“Philadelphia Inquirer”: “What’s So Bad About Bats?”
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service: Introduction to Bats

For Discussion:

• Are bats rodents? Are they birds?
• How many species or types of bats exist and where do they live in the world?
• What are some misconceptions about bats?
• What are some benefits that bats provide?
• Why do you think bats are feared or disliked?
• What are some reasons bats are endangered? How can you help protect bats?

Activities

Batology. Begin your bat studies by letting students explore books and Web sites with good overviews about the mammals. How Bats Work (a howstuffworks page) is a good start. Be sure they compare bat wings to a human arm and a bird’s wing on the Flying Mouse? page.

All about echolocation. Even though humans can’t usually hear the high-frequency echolocation calls bats make, computer equipment can record the calls and “process” them into a format we can hear. Visit the University of Leeds (UK) site A Library of Bat Echolocation Calls to hear the sounds of 17 North American species. If you listen to the calls that include a “feeding buzz,” you can better understand how echolocation works. At first the bats emit regular sound pulses. But as the pulses bounce off prey, they become quicker until, finally, you hear an almost continuous buzz, meaning the bat caught its meal. At the howstuffworks page Seeing with Sound, students can view a simple animation that helps make echolocation clear. Finally, let students experience echolocation themselves with the activity Bats and Echolocation, which accompanies the PBS “Scientific American Frontiers” episode “Calls of the Wild.”

I vant to drink your blood. Halloween may have come and gone, but students are still bound to be interested in the very misunderstood vampire bat. Visiting National Geographic’s Creature Feature about Vampire Bats, lets them explore the animals’ world from the safety of their computers. There they can watch a video, read fun facts and information about vampires, and view a map showing where in the world they live. There’s even a bat postcard they can send to friends. They may be interested to know that vampire bats have fewer teeth than other bats and that they don’t actually suck blood at all, but lap it up from tiny cuts made with their specially adapted teeth.

Be a friend to bats. Bats need all the friends and positive PR they can get! Your students can help. The National Wildlife Federation produced its Bat Guide to accompany the release of bat stamps from the U.S. Postal Service. On the page you can download “Ranger Rick” articles about bats, and a 25-page activity guide that features background information and activities about bat adaptations, bat myths and benefits, and building bat houses. At the end of the guide are lots of ways students can help bats, from writing an article for the newspaper to helping create bat-friendly habitats. Speaking of habitats, the Federation also offers a wealth of information on how to make them at Create Habitat.

Use the search box below to perform a Google search within any of the specifc sites or general domains mentioned in this Activities section.

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