Who gave bats their bad name?
- Emma Withers
- Sep 1, 2020
- 3 min read
Introduction
Neither my BSc Zoology or MSc in Conservation covered much detail on Bat species. They came up once or twice when covering disease spread, and it was acknowledged that all species of bats are protected in the U.K, but not much was covered between these two socially conflicting premises.
So, I sought to diversify my practical skills and knowledge of the world’s only flying mammal by starting to volunteer in summer 2019 with members of The Quantock Hills AONB on behalf of The Bat Conservation Trust. Across the survey season (May to September), we run line transects across suspected bat inhabited areas of the Quantocks; recording bat presence, with particular interest in the Western Barbastelle (Barbastella barbastellus, Figure 1). The more I have learnt about bats as a whole, the more I want and feel like I need to learn, and I’m hoping the same for you.
Figure 1 - Barbastell Bat
Unfortunately, bats have gained rather a bad name. Perhaps because from children if we saw bats on the T.V they were predominantly the villain, a vampire, or associated with Halloween. As adults, we have learnt that bats can be vectors of disease, especially since large media coverage of the Ebola virus.
Bats as carriers of disease
There are many characteristics that bats have evolved that provide them with protection from disease infection. Firstly, quite simply, they have built up a strong immune system. Bats live in very close proximity of one another in groups of several hundreds. These close living conditions increase the chances of disease spread throughout the colony. So, infection of just one bat, would put the entire colony at risk. Therefore, it has been necessary for bats to evolve the mechanisms that help them to avoid initial infection.
Secondly, a bats ability to fly requires a huge amount of energy; giving them a high metabolic rate (Figure 2). Metabolising food creates free radicals that are harmful to DNA. All animals have ways of preventing the damaged caused by these free radicals. Bats, however, seem to have become more efficient at repairing their DNA to cope with their high metabolism. This could mean that viruses might not be able to access a bats cells DNA quite so easily, due to their rapid DNA repair and defence systems.
This same uniqueness is likely to be responsible for the reason why bats live so much longer than their non-winged, similar-sized counterparts. Bats living around 30 years compared to a mouse that lives between 2-3 years.
A bats ability to fight infection and fly, creates a good mode of transport for any disease.
Figure 2 - A Common Pipestrelle (Pipistrellus pipistrellus) in flight
Now what about the species right here in the U.K?
There are 17 breeding species of bat in the UK; all of which rely on insects to feed. All U.K species and their roosts are legally protected under legislation. This makes it illegal to cause harm or damage to bats or their roots. This is because bat numbers here have declined drastically over the last few decades. This drop is a result of a decreases in insect populations, foraging habitat, loss of roosts and commuting flight lines. This is causing bats to become progressively dependant on urban areas for roosting and foraging areas, so lots of work goes into ensuring that any changes to the existing environment aren’t done on the compromise of bats.
Why are bats important?
I hear you asking why all this is so necessary, what is the reason we protect our U.K bat species?
Bats provide a number of services for our ecosystems, and play an important role in many environments around the world. See the infographic below (Figure 1) for the multiple benefits that bats provide to our ecosystems.
Figure 3 - Bat Ecosystem Services
So how can you help?
- Put up a bat box – bats are becoming more reliant on urban areas for roosts and development increases. Putting up a bat box provides the bat with a protected artificial roost.
- Visit the Bat Conservation Trust Website https://www.bats.org.uk/index.php - this website contains a wide variety of information about bat species in the U.K.
- Read up on the current hashtag #dontblamebats to learn and share more about the importance of protecting our bat species (watch https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=gilj-fd77Ew for more information)
- Share this blog! Help to spread the enjoyment of learning and the importance of saving our bats! (for the bat’s sake mainly, but i would also hugely apprciate the support).
Links to find out more:
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