One of the areas I am learning is GIS. I created this map in ArcGIS on line that shows bat box locations in the Franklin County, Ohio area. It can be a helpful tool locating boxes or bat roosts to monitor. I will continue to update map as I locate more boxes.
Direct Link :Bat Box Locations
Environmental Science / Geographic Information System student seeking environmental career.
Sunday, December 15, 2019
Wednesday, October 30, 2019
Bats Are Not The Threat That Many Believe
Halloween is a time of year when many of the rumors about bats hit their peak. They are labeled as blood sucking vampires out to spread rabies. Due to these rumors, they rely on us to set the facts straight.
With over 1300 bat species around the globe, only three species are vampire bats. But that does not make them blood sucking predators on the loose. All three species are found in Central and South America and lap (not suck) blood from cattle and poultry and it is rare for them to drink the blood of humans. But society tends to throw all bat species together in the same category of blood sucking creatures of the night.
There are many reasons the public fears and connects bats to vampires. Years ago most of this fear came from movies and comic books about Dracula or vampires. Today we also have the internet to blame for much of these damaging myths. It is impossible to stop the media from spreading this nonsense but we do have the right to boycott sites that promote it. We need to obtain our facts from credible websites and avoid social media or media websites. We need to also stop sharing this information on social media just because it is cute or part of folklore. They are part of the problem and are hurting bats!
Bats are a mammal and as with any mammal, they can have rabies. Every day new articles are posted about bats found with rabies. Most of these sites are from the media operated websites such as newspapers, television or other unreliable sites. When we click on the link to read an article or open a web page, it is recorded in the statistics for that page. The media monitors these clicks or hits and they use it to determine what people are reading. They continue to print the popular or most visited articles. We can educate people on the truth without sharing these sites.
Society is concerned about bats with rabies so the internet continues to saturate it with articles after articles. This flood of articles about bats with rabies over other animals with rabies makes it sound like bats are nothing but rabies infected animals. As mentioned above, bats can carry rabies just like any other mammal but the surplus of articles does not truly represent the health status of bats.
According to the World Health Organization, domestic dogs are responsible for more rabies transmissions to humans in about 99% of the cases.
I have read on numerous websites that the CDC claims only 0.5% of bats have been reported to have rabies. I searched the CDC website repeatedly for this information but had no success locating it. I was able to locate information claiming 6% of bats have been reported with rabies. This is still a small number but I wanted to make sure I was getting the facts straight so I dropped an email to the CDC to clarify the numbers. I received this reply from the Poxvirus and Rabies Branch, Division of High Consequence Pathogens and Pathology.
“Thank you for your inquiry. The true rate of rabies in bats is highly variable and dependent on numerous ecological factors. The variation in numbers you have pointed out below is also highly influenced by the method of surveillance used to detect rabies. The largest surveillance activity in the United States is referred to as “Passive Public Health Surveillance”. Under this system, only bats that have exposed a human or pet are eligible for testing. Each year around 25,000 bats are tested under this system, of which about 5 – 7% are positive. These are bats that have a much higher probability of having rabies due to their abnormally-acting behavior. It is an important population to test for the public’s health, but it is a very biased sample when compared to the full population of bats (normally and abnormally acting). There are several studies that have looked at rates of rabies in randomly sampled bat populations (healthy and abnormally acting) and these studies tend to find around 0.1% - 0.001% rates of rabies (so it is very uncommon in a random sample). The higher rates of rabies in bats that you mentioned are typically only seen when an outbreak has occurred in a colony. These events are very rarely detected through surveillance programs and are not representative of the “normal state” of a bat colony.
There is no universal truth to the rate of rabies in bats. It is highly variable based on numerous ecological factors and surveillance factors and rates change over time, even within a single colony. In general, the risk of rabies in a normal, healthy bat is quite low (but not 0), while the risk of rabies in an abnormally acting bat is quite high relative to the deadly nature of rabies. For this reason, persons should always avoid direct contact with bats unless using appropriate personal protective equipment; this is safest for the person and will prevent the unnecessary euthanasia and testing of that bat. "
Let's relax and enjoy all the benefits we have from bats as that truly outweighs all this propaganda we read on the internet.
With over 1300 bat species around the globe, only three species are vampire bats. But that does not make them blood sucking predators on the loose. All three species are found in Central and South America and lap (not suck) blood from cattle and poultry and it is rare for them to drink the blood of humans. But society tends to throw all bat species together in the same category of blood sucking creatures of the night.
Bats are a mammal and as with any mammal, they can have rabies. Every day new articles are posted about bats found with rabies. Most of these sites are from the media operated websites such as newspapers, television or other unreliable sites. When we click on the link to read an article or open a web page, it is recorded in the statistics for that page. The media monitors these clicks or hits and they use it to determine what people are reading. They continue to print the popular or most visited articles. We can educate people on the truth without sharing these sites.
Society is concerned about bats with rabies so the internet continues to saturate it with articles after articles. This flood of articles about bats with rabies over other animals with rabies makes it sound like bats are nothing but rabies infected animals. As mentioned above, bats can carry rabies just like any other mammal but the surplus of articles does not truly represent the health status of bats.
According to the World Health Organization, domestic dogs are responsible for more rabies transmissions to humans in about 99% of the cases.
I have read on numerous websites that the CDC claims only 0.5% of bats have been reported to have rabies. I searched the CDC website repeatedly for this information but had no success locating it. I was able to locate information claiming 6% of bats have been reported with rabies. This is still a small number but I wanted to make sure I was getting the facts straight so I dropped an email to the CDC to clarify the numbers. I received this reply from the Poxvirus and Rabies Branch, Division of High Consequence Pathogens and Pathology.
“Thank you for your inquiry. The true rate of rabies in bats is highly variable and dependent on numerous ecological factors. The variation in numbers you have pointed out below is also highly influenced by the method of surveillance used to detect rabies. The largest surveillance activity in the United States is referred to as “Passive Public Health Surveillance”. Under this system, only bats that have exposed a human or pet are eligible for testing. Each year around 25,000 bats are tested under this system, of which about 5 – 7% are positive. These are bats that have a much higher probability of having rabies due to their abnormally-acting behavior. It is an important population to test for the public’s health, but it is a very biased sample when compared to the full population of bats (normally and abnormally acting). There are several studies that have looked at rates of rabies in randomly sampled bat populations (healthy and abnormally acting) and these studies tend to find around 0.1% - 0.001% rates of rabies (so it is very uncommon in a random sample). The higher rates of rabies in bats that you mentioned are typically only seen when an outbreak has occurred in a colony. These events are very rarely detected through surveillance programs and are not representative of the “normal state” of a bat colony.
There is no universal truth to the rate of rabies in bats. It is highly variable based on numerous ecological factors and surveillance factors and rates change over time, even within a single colony. In general, the risk of rabies in a normal, healthy bat is quite low (but not 0), while the risk of rabies in an abnormally acting bat is quite high relative to the deadly nature of rabies. For this reason, persons should always avoid direct contact with bats unless using appropriate personal protective equipment; this is safest for the person and will prevent the unnecessary euthanasia and testing of that bat. "
Let's relax and enjoy all the benefits we have from bats as that truly outweighs all this propaganda we read on the internet.
Wednesday, April 17, 2019
Bat Appreciation Day
Bat Appreciation Day, held on April 17, is when we celebrate the importance of bats around the globe. I would like to share some interesting facts about bats and hope you see how valuable bats are to our ecosystem, economy and the health of our planet. Though today is bat appreciation day, we really should be thankful for bats every day and do what we can to preserve their future. Plus they are just cool little animals!
Bats are the only flying mammal and make up about 20% of all mammal species. They are the second largest order of mammals (second to rodents).
Bats are not rodents or birds. They belong to their own order called "Chiroptera."
Some bats eat more than 70% of their body weight insects in a single night and a pregnant bat can consume 100% of their body weight in insects. This could be 5000 insects in a night from a single bat. They are nature's ultimate insect control. This has many advantages. It reduces crop destroying insects which saves billions of dollars in the agriculture industry. This saving flows over to reduce cost for the consumer. Bats consume thousands of mosquitoes each night which helps reduce the spread of malaria.
Fruit and nectar feeding bats pollinate many plants, including an estimated 450 commercial plants
used by us. Foods such as bananas, peaches, guavas, mangoes, avocado, figs, dates, papaya, almonds, cashew nuts, vanilla and other products such as tequila (from the agave plant), carob and many more.
Bats help control diseases such as malaria by consuming many of the insects that spread such diseases.
De Hoop cave is the largest known roost in South Africa with an estimated 300,000 bats. This large numbers of bats is estimated to eat 100 tons every year and saving farmers thousands of rands on insecticides every year.
Studies have shown that bats save the corn industry more than $1 billion annually from the corn earworm which is destructive to corn crops.
Less than half a percent (0.5%) of bats carry rabies. As with any wild animal, you should leave them alone and do not touch them. Most animals are more scared of you than you are of them. Leave them alone and they will leave you alone.
Bats could care less about your hair. This goes back to the insects. When you are outside on a warm night, what is flying around your head? Insects! The bats are after the insects, not your hair. So you should thank them for helping you out.
Bats are actually very clean and will groom their self like a cat.
They are important pollinators and seed dispensers and are critical for tropical reforestation. Bats help pollinate fruit which is necessary and they also spread seeds which helps bring new fruit trees. Some fruit that they help are bananas and agave. Do you like tequila? Well, you need to thank bats because without bats there would be no agave and therefore, no tequila.
Bats have been found (fossils and live) on all continents except the poles and a few islands. Their habitat ranges from tree lines in the north to tree line in the south. The only exclusion are the permanent snow covered areas and extreme deserts.
Most sounds from bats are too high a frequency for humans to hear. Those who study bats use
ultrasound detectors (bat detectors) to pick up these sounds.
Bracken Cave (Texas) has the largest bat population in the world with over 20 million Mexican Free-tailed Bats. In one night they consume several tons of insects that destroy agriculture crops or carry malaria. Just in south central Texas, it is estimated to save farmers $741,000 a year in pest control in the cotton production.
There are only three species of bats that drink blood and they are located in Central and South America. It is a myth about bats drinking your blood. As for those who live in the area of vampire bats, the bats prefer to drink blood from animals such as cattle and poultry (birds). So you are safe from encountering blood sucking bats as they do not exist.
So I hope these facts about bats provided you with a new insight about bats and created new and positive thoughts about bats. The next time you see a bat, enjoy what you are watching and understand that bat is helping make your life better.
Bats are the only flying mammal and make up about 20% of all mammal species. They are the second largest order of mammals (second to rodents).
Bats are not rodents or birds. They belong to their own order called "Chiroptera."
Some bats eat more than 70% of their body weight insects in a single night and a pregnant bat can consume 100% of their body weight in insects. This could be 5000 insects in a night from a single bat. They are nature's ultimate insect control. This has many advantages. It reduces crop destroying insects which saves billions of dollars in the agriculture industry. This saving flows over to reduce cost for the consumer. Bats consume thousands of mosquitoes each night which helps reduce the spread of malaria.
Fruit and nectar feeding bats pollinate many plants, including an estimated 450 commercial plants
Bats help control diseases such as malaria by consuming many of the insects that spread such diseases.
De Hoop cave is the largest known roost in South Africa with an estimated 300,000 bats. This large numbers of bats is estimated to eat 100 tons every year and saving farmers thousands of rands on insecticides every year.
Studies have shown that bats save the corn industry more than $1 billion annually from the corn earworm which is destructive to corn crops.
Less than half a percent (0.5%) of bats carry rabies. As with any wild animal, you should leave them alone and do not touch them. Most animals are more scared of you than you are of them. Leave them alone and they will leave you alone.
Bats could care less about your hair. This goes back to the insects. When you are outside on a warm night, what is flying around your head? Insects! The bats are after the insects, not your hair. So you should thank them for helping you out.
Bats are actually very clean and will groom their self like a cat.
They are important pollinators and seed dispensers and are critical for tropical reforestation. Bats help pollinate fruit which is necessary and they also spread seeds which helps bring new fruit trees. Some fruit that they help are bananas and agave. Do you like tequila? Well, you need to thank bats because without bats there would be no agave and therefore, no tequila.
Bats have been found (fossils and live) on all continents except the poles and a few islands. Their habitat ranges from tree lines in the north to tree line in the south. The only exclusion are the permanent snow covered areas and extreme deserts.
Most sounds from bats are too high a frequency for humans to hear. Those who study bats use
Bracken Cave (Texas) has the largest bat population in the world with over 20 million Mexican Free-tailed Bats. In one night they consume several tons of insects that destroy agriculture crops or carry malaria. Just in south central Texas, it is estimated to save farmers $741,000 a year in pest control in the cotton production.
There are only three species of bats that drink blood and they are located in Central and South America. It is a myth about bats drinking your blood. As for those who live in the area of vampire bats, the bats prefer to drink blood from animals such as cattle and poultry (birds). So you are safe from encountering blood sucking bats as they do not exist.
So I hope these facts about bats provided you with a new insight about bats and created new and positive thoughts about bats. The next time you see a bat, enjoy what you are watching and understand that bat is helping make your life better.
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