Fans of ultrasonic echolocation should perk their ears up next Friday as folks the world over show their appreciation for the humble bat.
April 17 is International Bat Appreciation Day, a date established by Bat Conservation International to promote bats.
Alberta has nine known species of bat, all of which are appreciated for eating mosquitoes and other agricultural pests, said Lisa Wilkinson, Alberta Fish and Wildlife bat specialist. Elsewhere in the world, bats are vital pollinators of many plants, including bananas and mangoes, and help distribute seeds to re-grow forests.
No one’s sure how many bats Alberta actually has, though, Wilkinson noted – they’re hard to study because they’re nocturnal, and you usually study them with microphones, which doesn’t give you a head-count. Researchers believe Alberta’s bat populations are healthy.
Most of Alberta’s bats are now preparing migrate home from caves in the Rockies or Mexico where they’ve been hibernating, Wilkinson said. Some might be snoozing in your attic, but most buildings are too cold or dry for them during the winter.
Albertans are most likely to encounter the little brown bat in cities, as these thumb-sized bug-eaters often roost in buildings, Wilkinson said. You might confuse them with the big brown bat, which also hangs around urban areas but weighs twice as much.
Besides habitat loss, the biggest threat to the little brown bat in North America is white-nose syndrome – a fungal disease that causes bats to become overactive in winter, burn through their energy reserves, and starve to death. Some 5.7 million bats have fallen to this disease since it appeared in New York in 2006, and scientists say the disease could shrink North America’s little brown bat numbers by some 99 per cent by 2030, reports Bat Conservation International.
White-nose syndrome has reached Manitoba and is expected to come to Alberta any year now, Wilkinson said. Residents can help bats by conserving bug-breeding wetlands, building bat houses, and not killing bats indoors – either open the doors and windows and let them fly out if it’s not winter or contact a wildlife rehabilitation centre.
Visit albertabats.ca for more on bats.
