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Facts about Bats
Most people have the wrong idea about bats. More often than not, bats are completely harmless. The truth is, bats are more afraid of you than you are of them. They are actually very beneficial to you. Do you know how many mosquitoes bats can consume? Bats are able to eat over 1,000 mosquitoes in just one hour. Below you will find tips, ideas and useful information on bats.
- Bats are popular sources of natural mosquito and insect control in some parts of the world.
- Although bats are considered harmless, please remember that they are still wild animals. People who aren't trained, especially children, should never try to handle a bat.
- By giving off high pitched sounds, bats use the echoes to find objects and their prey
- Bats do not fly in the rain because it messes with their echo location, and they become unable to locate food
- The only continent bats can't be found on is Antartica
- Although most bats are thought to be blind, most see in black and white and some species can see ultra violet light, which is crucial when going beyond their echo location
- Bats play an important role in pollinating flowers and reseeding cut forests
- One way to keep bats out of your attic is to put up a bat house
- Bats have to find a new bat house on their own. Products that are mean to lure bats, almost never work.
- Once bats find their home, you need to do your part for maintaining it. Bat Houses should be monitored once a month at a minimum for problems such as predators, problems with the house or wasp and dirt dauber nests.
- Bat houses should be placed 15 ft. off of the ground, the higher the better
- Direct morning sunlight is also a plus, baby bats need as much warmth as they can get. Bat Houses need anywhere from 5 - 10 hours of sunlight
- Bats are the only mammals that can fly
- Placing bat houses on the sides of building or poles tend to have higher results than those placed in trees
- Currently, the saliva from a vampire bat is being tested and studied so that someday it might help people with heart problems
- Mother bats will generally only give birth to one pup (baby bat) a year
- Although the bat families are not that big, they don't mind sharing. Bat Houses will hold up to 600 bats. If the mother bat runs out of milk, the pup will look to another mother bat for the milk they need
- All necessary repairs or cleaning should be done after the bats have vacated for the season
- There was a large controversy going around about bats and the West Nile Virus. Since bats eat mosquitoes and they are a carrier for the virus, people thought that bats were a danger to us. In fact bats are quite clean and groom themselves just like cats do. Truth is, bats can't contract the virus just by eating an infected mosquito. Therefore, bats become helpful in the elimination of the West Nile Virus because of the amount of mosquitoes they eat!
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