Batman and vampires are probably the two most popular things associated with bats. While the caped crusader is seen as heroic and strong, bats usually get the connotation associated with the vampire: blood-sucking and creepy. But the misunderstood bat plays an important role in our everyday lives, and it's one that is being threatened by a mysterious and fatal disease.
Perhaps because bats are nocturnal and do all their good deeds at night, they are overlooked as helpful and integral parts of the planet. According to Bat Conservation International, bats are the only major night predator of insects. They are a natural pesticide and have the ability to eat 1,000 insects or mosquitoes every hour because they are constantly flying and, therefore, have a high metabolism.
Bats eat insects that would otherwise terrorize crops, and many organic farmers can thank bats because their hard work during the night makes it easy to keep a pesticide-free garden. In fact, all farmers can thank bats because of their appetite for insects, which surpasses that of birds for the six-legged creatures, because it reduces the need for pesticides. Some bats also serve as pollinators for plants and fruits such as bananas and peaches.
But a mysterious disease has infected many bats in the northeastern United States in Connecticut, Vermont, Massachusetts, New York and Pennsylvania. NPR reported that bats in Ohio and Virginia also could be at risk for what scientists are referring to as white-nose syndrome because some of the bats affected have a white fungus on their noses.
The disease causes bats to end their hibernation early, leaving them malnourished and in search for food during a time of the year when their normal food source is not plentiful. The bats become emaciated and die because of a lack of nutrients, and the disease is spreading quickly among bats because they often hibernate together in close quarters.
One of the bats on the endangered species list, the Indiana bat, hibernates in the caves of southern Ohio and is at risk for extinction if the disease takes hold of the population. Some Indiana bats have already shown signs of white-nose syndrome, and there are about as many Indiana bats, 500,000 according to the Natural Resources Defense Council, that have already succumbed to the white-nose syndrome. Of the half million affected, there is about a 90 percent fatality rate according to PBS.
The cause is unknown, but it's something that needs more attention in order to prevent further outbreaks. Pesticide use by humans has killed a lot of the food supply for bats, and the constant destruction of bats' habitats hasn't been helpful either. Often regarded as a pest that merely transfers rabies (less than one-half of one percent of bats carry rabies, according to the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service) and sucks blood (vampire bats don't actually suck blood out of animals), they aren't receiving the attention they deserve.
From a business point of view, fewer bats mean more pesticide use, and at a time when food prices are already high, another burden on farmers and consumers is not necessary. According to the Department of Agriculture, there are almost 300,000 farms between Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky and Pennsylvania ' losing bats, the natural pesticide, will be detrimental to those farms.
A drastic increase in the amount of insects in the Northeast, always a welcome part of summer, is bound to happen if bats continue to die off at these high numbers. The natural pesticide and mosquito-eater needs to become a priority for the sake of both ecosystems and agriculture.
They might not be as handsome as Christian Bale (sorry, Michael Keaton), but the bats of the Northeast are still more hero than villain when it comes to how much of an asset they are. Considering all the beetles, mosquitoes and caterpillars they devour on a nightly basis ' which is a tremendous help to our population ' it's our responsibility to make sure their population doesn't disappear, especially if it turns out this illness is our fault.
Cathy Wilson is a junior journalism major and a copy editor for The Post. Send her an e-mail at cw224805@ohiou.edu.
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Cathy Wilson
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