Mother Nature's Hallowe'en Contribution


                As Hallowe’en fast approaches, we find our attention drawn, time and again, to one of Mother Nature’s creeeeeepiest creatures! Many a Hallowe’en T.V. show, book or other image opens with the spectacle of a worn out, run down dilapidated abandoned old house with a huge, full moon hanging over the turrets. Sometimes, a witch on a broomstick swoops on past, her form silhouetted against the moon. Occasionally, a few ghosties peer out of the broken windows or fly out of the house into the darkened sky. It’s all part of the spooky fun.

                But no matter what else is there, almost inevitably you’ll see those little black, jagged winged, squeaky little flapping critters flip past. They’re supposed to inspire us to run, screaming into the blackened night, or at least give a good shiver down our spines.

                They are, of course, bats.

                They may have gotten they’re creeeeeeepy reputation, in part, from some of their number who are known as “vampire bats”. They have a recurring role in the story of the spooky buck-toothed guy from Transylvania who only came out at night to steal other people’s blood for a snack. How grotesque! In some versions of the story, when he’s in danger, he can turn himself into a bat and take off before you can move.

                But, really, the bat gets short-changed in that story. For one thing, contrary to popular myth, vampire bats don’t suck blood. They create a wound and the lap up the blood that comes out. OK. I grant you that is a wee bit creepy. But it seems a little less so, somehow, when you realize they only take a teaspoon or two worth of blood. Never enough to endanger their hosts. Just enough to create a nasty sore.

                Now here’s something kind of amazing. Their saliva has an anticoagulation agent in it. That just means that when their spit enters their host, it makes the blood a little thinner so it will keep running so the bat can get enough nourishment. Now doctors are discovering they may be able to use this agent to help heart patients and stroke patients to avoid clots. Not only are bats not creepy, they may actually save lives! Want to know some more about bats?

·       There’s a huge cave in Texas called the ‘Bracken Bat Cave’. It’s the biggest known one in the world, and is the home to some 20 million bats!

·      The biggest bat in the world is the Flying Fox, with a wing-span of about six feet. Can you imagine that guy coming at you?

·         The smallest known bat is the Bumblebee Bat. This one is roughly the size of (surprised?) a bumblebee.

·         These little creatures help us keep our insect population in hand. A single bat can consume 600 bugs in one hour. A colony of bats can put away over a ton of bugs each year!

·         Remember those vampire bats? Mostly their hosts on horses or cows, but occasionally they feel like chicken. To do this, they’ve developed the most devious and impressive trick of pretending to be a chick and snuggling up against mama chicken in order to get a shot at her legs!

·         Bats plant lots of plant life by dropping seeds from fruit they munch on. About 95% of all reforestation of tropical forests is a result of bats dropping seeds.

·         Bats use echolocation.  They send out a sound and wait to see how long it takes to bounce back in order to determine how far off an object is. Most of them send out this sound through their mouths, but some can actually holler through their nostrils.

·         Civil War soldiers used gun powder made from bat droppings.

·         It is true that bats sleep upside down. They do this so they can fly off as quickly as possible should the need arise. And the blood doesn’t even rush to their heads!

One morning my Grandmother, who lived on farm deep in the countryside, woke up and found her bedroom window pane full of little bats, all snuggled up to each other.  She didn’t panic and scream hysterically, as I probably would have. Instead, she simply grabbed her broomstick and poked the little creatures out of there and let them fly, unharmed, back into the forest from which they had come. Possibly she knew something I didn’t know.

                We need these little guys!

                Don’t forget to tune in next week for another one of Mother Nature’s creeeeeeepiest creatures! Bwa ha ha ha ha!
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