I must admit I know more about Batman, the caped crusader, than I know about bats, the mysterious and mystical mammals of the night. Batman is just a television and cinema fictional character. But like bats, he also has a cave.
What about the undead that feeds on the living, they are also associated with bats? Like me, many people tend to know more about Count Dracula and Barnabas Collins, the neck-biting, blood-sucking vampires than about bats.
Thank goodness these characters, bloody or crime-fighting, are only folklore and comic personas. Batman and vampires are concoctions for entertainment that feeds our superhuman fantasies and fill the pockets of big-time writers, actors, and producers.
Living or undead, these personas, and bats have some behavioral similarities. All have wings and roam under the cover of darkness. And they are also linked to batty superstitions and symbols of sorcery. They supposedly strike dread and terror of creepy things that go bump in the night.
Although vampires aren’t real, some people claim to be bloodsuckers. Well, whatever suits their fancy or fantasy, as long as they keep their fangs to themselves.
But bats are real. And there are real vampire bats that feed only on blood.
This fact alone makes bats frightful, and I don’t like them.
But you don’t have to like something to live in harmony with it. Everything has a purpose.
Even before learning that some scientists believe Ebola and COVID-19 are viruses that originated from bats, I’ve never liked these eerie creatures. Although I’ve only seen pictures of bats, they look evil. And it’s true that we tend to fear what we don’t understand.
But bats are like everything else in nature, they are beneficial, and they can also be harmful if precautions aren’t taken.
Did you know that bats aren’t blind?
The saying, blind as a bat, isn’t technically sound. But bats do use sound waves or echolocation to locate their food or prey. With echolocation, they can travel in complete darkness.
Thank goodness, these sound signals tell them I’m too big to be prey. This may not be true for vampire bats. But I’m not the one to prove or disprove this assumption.
Here are a few facts about bats:
Disease kills many bats. They have few natural predators.
Bats are the only flying mammals.
The Bumblebee Bat, commonly called Kitti’s hog-nosed bat, is the smallest mammal in the world. It weighs less than a penny.
The bats called flying foxes have a wingspan of nearly 6 feet.
Bat poop or guano is used for fertilizer and can be used to make gunpowder.
Bat’s poop is the reason the US acquired the Guano Islands.
Many fruits depend on bats for pollination.
Some medicines are made from plants that survive because of bats.
Most bats live less than 20 years, but some live 30 years or more.
Many bat species are threatened or on the endangered species list.
Bats eat thousands of insects that harm the crops of farmers and foresters.
Bats exceed our vehicle lawful speed limit. They can fly up to 100 miles-per-hour.
Bats have navels. They’re young are pups.
Bat Week is the last week of October.
Unlike Batman and other bat tales and folklore, we need bats.
And even though bats carry viruses and diseases, we still need bats.
I like Bruce Wayne as Batman, but I hate Count Dracula. I will never like bats, but I have an appreciation and respect for what they do.