By Paula Musto
Many years ago on a trip to China, the itinerary included a tour of a famously scenic area in the Guangdong region known for its crags, lake and caverns. Our guide insisted that we tour the caves. Crowded into shallow boats, we slid through the inky darkness. Soon a piercing, crackling sound overhead caught my attention and, looking up in the dim light I saw an unforgettable sight—hundreds, maybe thousands, of fluttering bats roosting above.
I have been terrified of bats ever since, considering them creepy, scary and spooky. Each Halloween, when the winged creatures adorn decorations, I avert my eyes. Bats are dangerous. Bats should be eradicated whenever possible. Recently, I learned how wrong-headed this too common belief is—bats contribute greatly to ecosystems in ways that impact our daily lives.
“Bats are some of the most misunderstood and unappreciated members of the animal kingdom,” says Kyle Shute, a habitat ecologist with the Southern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy. “They are a group of really fascinating animals that most of us never see.”
Bats are creatures of the night, sleeping during the day and active at nighttime. But rather than loathsome, these winged creatures might be considered heroes of the night. On their after-dark forays, bats eat vast quantities of flying insects, including mosquitoes. A single bat might consume its weight in bugs each night.
Not only do people benefit from this natural pest control but the insect-heavy diet provides an essential service to agriculture. It’s estimated that bats feast on enough potentially harmful insects to save farmers billions each year in crop damage and pesticide costs.
Bats are also useful as seed dispersers and key pollinators for many of our favorite foods and spices. While many bats eat insects, others feed on nectar and provide critical pollination for a variety of plants including peaches, cloves, bananas and agaves.
As a biology major in college, Shute first became interested in bats during a summer job counting populations of the species in the Georgia mountains. Later, while working on a master’s degree in Wildlife Biology at Clemson University, he wrote his thesis on the northern yellow bat that inhabits wooded areas where Spanish moss grows. Like many bat species, the population of these animals has suffered in recent years.
“Bats are in decline nearly everywhere around the world,” Shute says. “These animals are amazing, but face serious threats including habitat loss and destruction of roost sites, pesticide usage and disease.”
Shute has tracked bat populations in areas where more than 90 percent of the population has been killed off. Millions of bats have died from white-nose syndrome, a disease named for a white fungus on the muzzle and wings of those infected. The disease has decimated bat populations in the eastern US, including the northern long-eared bat, once plentiful in North Carolina and now classified as a federally endangered species.
Scientists are working to understand and stop the spread of the deadly fungal disease. Humans can help by avoiding places where bats roost and, thereby, lessening the possibility of unintentional contamination. It is for this reason that entry into the iconic Bat Cave in nearby Rutherford County has been closed to hikers.
Here are some things to know about these most idiosyncratic animals.
• Bats come in all sizes, many as small as an inch long and others with wingspans measured in feet. With more than 1,400 species worldwide, bats are among the most diverse of mammal species and the only mammal that truly flies (flying squirrels glide). Seventeen species of bats can be found in NC, including four listed as federally threatened or endangered.
• NC bat species can be divided into two groups: winter hibernating species commonly found roosting in caves and other dark, moist enclosures such as mine shafts and, to the dismay of many humans, in attics and under roofs; and migratory bats that live in woodsy environs near water and fly in large swarms during their seasonal journeys in search of food and warm temperatures.
• Contrary to popular belief, bats have good eyesight, on par with or better than humans. But for most species, the primary navigation technique is echolocation (a type of sonar) in which bats emit high-pitched sounds that bounce off objects in their path.
• While bats should be considered beneficial, we need to keep our distance for many reasons, not the least, rabies. Bats are well-known for carrying this potentially lethal disease, and while Shute says it’s rare for humans to encounter an infected bat, people need to exercise caution and, if scratched or bitten, consult a doctor. As a researcher, he takes pre-exposure vaccines and wears protective gear when handling the animals.
It’s true that bats exhibit oddities we might consider strange—like hanging upside down when sleeping. They are often portrayed along with blood-sucking vampires and the supernatural. But wildlife enthusiasts are working to change this perception, and each October celebrate International Bat Week (October 24–31 this year). For more about the event and why these animals are important, visit BatWeek.org.
Paula Musto is a writer and volunteer for Appalachian Wildlife Refuge which cares for injured and orphaned wildlife. To learn more, visit
AppalachianWild.org.
