by Laurence Pringle
To many people, bats are scary, ugly creatures. Superstitions about them range from tales of bats being vampires to the belief that they tangle themselves in people’s hair. These notions about bats are still common. No wonder bats are still feared and killed in many lands!
These old beliefs are disappearing, however, as people learn about the lives of real bats. About a thousand kinds of bats live on all continents except Antarctica. None are blind, and some see very well.
Large bats that live in the tropics have big eyes and doglike snouts. They’re called flying foxes, and they eat fruit. Most bats are insect eaters, and they are the ones with weird faces. They usually have big ears and sometimes have odd-looking noses. With their beady little eyes, they see as well as mice or other small mammals. To catch food in the dark, though, they rely on sonar system.
This extraordinary system is more advanced than anything devised by people. In fact, scientists still don’t understand many details of it. Bats emit high-pitched squeaks that we cannot hear. Some of these sounds echo off objects in front of the flying bats. Bats listen to the echoes and immediately get a picture in their brains of what lies ahead. They dodge twigs and other obstacles. They zoom in on moths and even tiny mosquitoes.
The odd-looking noses and ears of some bats are part of their sonar equipment. Their sonar system works beautifully. Bats can easily avoid getting tangled in a person’s hair. When they sometimes swoop near people at night, they are often chasing mosquitoes. They pluck the mosquitoes out of the air before the insects can feast on the humans.
A small bat can catch several hundred mosquitoes in an hour. People who know this take steps to encourage bats to live near their homes. They put up bat houses in which bats can rest during the day.
Bats can eat a huge number of flying insects. In Austin, Texas, a colony of nearly a million bats consumes from fifteen to thirty thousand pounds of insect each summer night. People in the Austin area are proud of their bats and celebrate their return each summer.
Further west, long-nosed bats feed on nectar within cactus flowers. The cacti blooms only at night. As the bats fly from one flower to another, dipping their noses deep inside, they carry pollen from flower to flower. Without long-nosed bats, saguaros and other large cacti could not produce seeds.
In East Africa, the giant baobab tree also is pollinated by bats. Its large white flowers open at night, which invites bats that feed on nectar. The baobab is called the “tree of life” because so many other plants and animals depend on it for their survival. Without bats, however, baobabs themselves would eventually die out. For the baobab, bats are the “mammals of life.”
As the vital roles of bats in nature become better known, more and more people work to protect these creatures. Bats often rest or raise their young in caves or other shelters where they can easily be found and destroyed. In the United States, some bat colonies are now protected from disturbance. Metal gates have been built across the openings to their cave homes. Bats can fly freely in and out, but people are kept out.
Bats are intelligent and gentle. Their fur feels wonderfully soft to the touch. When people see a bat, this usually means there is a problem. Bats naturally hide in the daytime. Any bat that is not hidden may be injured or sick. In some cases, it may have a dangerous disease called rabies that can be transmitted to humans through a bite.
If we respect bats, and leave their caves and other homes alone, they will thrive and continue to be some of the most fascinating and beneficial mammals on Earth. Hurrah for bats!
4.
The author organizes paragraphs 7 through 10 for the purpose of describing –
A why bats are important and what has been done to protect them
B what bats eat and why they’re called the “mammals of life”
C where bats live and how they raise their young
D when bats are most active and how people respond to them