Home >> Science & Nature >> Animals & Science

Endangered Animals: Bats

Bats inhabit every continent on Earth except Antarctica and are beneficial members of each ecosystem they inhabit. However, bats are widely misunderstood and mistakenly feared. Despite popular belief, most bats do not have rabies, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Most bats hunt insects or consume fruit and are not prone to attacking humans. Bat populations are declining due to disease, habitat loss and poisoning. Eleven species have died out. Sixty-five species are either endangered or critically endangered, and 177 more were vulnerable to extinction as of 2002, according to the World Conservation Union.

White-Nose Syndrome
- This fungal disease attacks bats during hibernation and has killed more than 1 million bats in the United States since 2006. The fungus is known as Geomyces and usually attacks dead animals. During hibernation the body temperature of bats decreases dramatically and causes the strain of fungus to attack healthy animals.
Habitat Destruction
- People who continue to believe that bats are a nuisance routinely destroy bat habitats. People build fires in caves where bats hibernate or they simply enter the caves and knock them from their roosts. Hibernating bats are at their most vulnerable, and many die when a fire is set. Spelunkers may disturb bat habitats, causing them to abandon the area. Destruction of habitats may be out of fear, ignorance or simple carelessness. Loss of habitats forces bats to migrate to populated areas where they are often considered a nuisance and subject to pest control. Human encroachment on forests also destroys bat habitats, according to the "Endangered Species Handbook."
Poison
- Humans poison bats to control bat populations due to fears of rabies. In reality in the past 45 years only 20 people have contracted rabies from bats in the United States and Canada, according to "Bats: Persecution and Hunting," a study conducted in 2001. Scientists declare that only 0.5 percent of bats contract rabies in a study conducted by Bat Conservation International in 1997.
Bat Conservation
- Education is key to preventing extinction of bat populations. One bat consumes 600 mosquitoes in less than an hour. Bats are beneficial to the environment in insect control for crops. Bats are also important pollinators. You can assist bat recovery by providing bat houses and non-lethal forms of control where bats may be considered pests.

Animals & Science