Did you know this about bats?

[Petertherock]

The Importance of Bats

The newsletter from, "The Texas Gardener Seeds" said:
Put up a bat house to encourage the presence of these shy animals. Bats consume 3,000 or more mosquitoes and other insects nightly, and bats are less likely to be rabid than dogs are.

Need another reason?
Bats are responsible for up to 95 percent of the seed dispersal essential to the regeneration of forests.

Our planet is populated with plenty of bizarre and astonishing creatures.
Here are three from the Bat Family...


Sucker-footed Bat


Red-Winged Fruit Bat



Left-Winged Socialist Ding Bat

So 2 out of 3 Bats have a useful purpose!

If we could just train him to eat mosquitoes... or do anything useful!

[DrBombay]

Unfortunately, the Ding Bat is rabid too. 

Garlic and crucifixes, that'll keep him away.  We hope.   

[per_passionem_eius]

Do bats poop on cars?

[cgraye]

Anything that eats insects is a friend of mine.  Do they like stink bugs?  If so, we need more of them around here.

[The Curt Jester]

 

My parish has a bat problem.   I once had a bat fly a couple feet over my head during choir practice.   I also came across one flying through the church basement.   Fortunately, I've yet to see a Left-winged dingbat at the church!

I think the last one also feeds on paychecks.   About a million a day if you average it out.

[per_passionem_eius]

Here's a link to bat houses:

http://www.eparks.org/wildlife_protection/wildlife_facts/bats/bat_house.asp

First one that came up on a google search. Haven't researched it.

[Deidre]

We had a few bats hanging out in our outside stairwell a few years ago. I was thrilled to think that we'd have so many fewer flying insects. But the bats left after our exterminator sprayed around the stairwell- I'm not sure if it was the spray itself or the subsequent lack of food that drove them off. :( since then, no more bats.

[DrBombay]

I almost forgot.  Bat talk gives me an excuse to post this hilarious story from CAF from a few years ago.  Classic.  No, it is not my story, I just laughed at it.

My mother who is a daily communicant had a rather unusual experience at Mass this morning when the priest came out with a bat attached to his vestment. (This happened in an eastern rite church where the celebrant faces away from the parishioners towards the altar.) Apparently, she was too scared to approach father to warn him about it and at one point in the Mass when it started flying around just before the consecration she screamed and almost fainted. Father gesticulated furiously and shewed it away. The few other parishioners in attendance were likewise scared or indifferent to the presence of this unwelcome guest. The one gentleman in the pews was very nonchalant; when advised about the bat he replied, "Oh, is that so?" What would you have done in such a situation? Don't you think someone should have yelled out, "Hey, father, there is a bat hanging on your back!" This is the second bat in two weeks. Last week a bat fell dead at the entrance to the church as someone opened the door. Isn't it unusual to see bats out and about in the daytime? Should father be advised to see a doctor as he has been in direct contact with a live bat? Could this bat be rabid? After falling down with laughter listening to my poor mother I wonder if this could be more serious.

[Protrident]

I'm getting me some bats!!!  Those insects are going DOWN!

[Hawaii Five-0]

Our house is two storey and we have a bunch of bats, little critters they call paniki here in the Philippines, who live under the rafter behind a water down-spout.  My wife is scared senseless of these bats.  Their babies are often falling into our outdoor sink, I can always tell when this happens by the blood curdling scream she lets out from the back yard.  Between the bats, tree frogs and the spiders one of these days she's gonna break a leg trying to get back in the house while having a apoplectic fit.