By Veronica Coulombe
For farmers, bats are a god send. Bats naturally act as exterminators, so no harmful chemicals have to be used on their crops. Bats naturally produce fertilizer for their crops, so farmers don’t have to go out and buy as much fertilizer. The bats pollinate their crops and the bats naturally drop farmer’s seeds so the farmer’s crops grow.
Four ways bats perpetuate the circle of life in ecosystems:
1. One Bat can eat up to one thousand mosquitoes, crop destroying and disease spreading insects in one evening
2. Bats pollinate many fruits and nuts that we enjoy
3. Bats naturally drop seeds helping plant new growth
4. Bat guano is the best plant fertilizer known to man, because it naturally contains a lot of nitrogen
Three ways bats are helping medicine
1. Bat guano contains powerful bacteria that helps detoxify waste which makes for powerful antibiotics
2. Bats’ echolocation is being studied to help assist the blind
3. Vampire Bats have a special blood thinning chemical called desmoteplase (or short for DSPA) in their saliva that is being studied for its use to break up blood clots. This will be a revolutionary change for medicine. Vampire bats can only be found in South America and Central America. They only need two table spoons of blood to survive everyday so they never kill their victims.
The main reason bats are endangered is because of the loss of their habitats. Caves, nesting areas and rainforests are being destroyed. Without a proper place to hibernate, bats may lose their energy and not make it through the winter. That’s why it’s important for people, especially gardeners and farmers to install bat houses around their houses, gardens and crops. If everyone installed more bat houses around their area then the ecosystems in the area would be better for all life. Bat shave been around for 50 million years. That’s about 50 times longer than how long humans have been around. They also have a life span of around 40 years, so once they come into an ecosystem, that ecosystem is set for a long time!
Making bat houses is no small task, because if the houses aren’t constructed properly (size of the opening or the thickness of the walls are off), the bats won’t come in, and if they don’t make a home of the bat houses then they won’t be around to help out the ecosystem in the area. That’s why it’s important to have a professional make one for you.
For more information, watch this You Tube Video:
P&S Country Crafts in Bristol, New Hampshire make bat houses by hand and work to educate the public and save the dwindling bat population caused by White Nose Syndrome (WNS):
Veronica
leads the Website & E-Commerce at P & S Country Crafts, a mom and pop bat houses manufacturer. Their goal is to save the world while at the same time increasing the bat population. They’re always having bat houses for sale, so check them out.
