LANSING, Mich. (Michigan News Source) – The Michigan DNR sent out a press release reminding us that October 24th through the 31st is Bat Week.

With Halloween coming up, it seems like the perfect time to celebrate bats. And according to the DNR and other pro-bat conservation groups, there is much to celebrate.

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This website calls Bat Week an international, annual celebration “designed to raise awareness about the need for bat conservation.”

According to the website, humans need bats. There are more than 1,400 species of bats who live all over the earth except in the most extreme desert and polar regions. They say that “bats are vital to the health of our environment and economy.”

A single bat can eat up to its body weight in insects each night and that helps protect our food crops and forests from insect pests, “saving farmers and forest managers billions of dollars each year.” They also pollinate flowers and spread seeds that grow new plants and trees.

The Michigan DNR reports that Michigan is home to nine species of bats, all of which are insectivores, which means they exclusively eat insects. During evening hours, the bats consume pests like mosquitoes, beetles, moths and flies.

The Michigan DNR, which works with partners to conserve bats and bat habitats, says that many bat species are facing challenges due to a decline in habitat loss, diminished food supply and disease.

One of those diseases is “white-nose syndrome,” a deadly disease that affects North American bats usually during winter hibernation. This disease awakes bats prematurely from hibernation and rapidly depletes their fat reserves, causing many to not survive the winter. Michigan is one of the few states that has field trials of possible treatments to combat white-nose syndrome.

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To fight against white-nose syndrome, the Michigan DNR has participated in different activities including installing bat gates inside of hibernacula (the place where bats seek refuge to hibernate) to keep them from being disturbed and applying a shellfish compound to bats and the inside of the hibernacula.

The Michigan DNR says that there are ways to help the bat population including planting a bat-friendly garden, minimizing the use of insecticides, pulling weeds out of bat habitats, installing a bat house in a location not frequented by people and not entering closed mines.

According to the state of Michigan’s website, bats are a misunderstood creature and are the only mammals capable of sustained flight. They say, “The wing of a bat, which is totally different in structure from that of birds or insects, is formed from skin stretched over long, thin fingers that encompass the hind legs and often the tail.”

Bats use “echolocation” to find and capture prey. “They emit pulses of high-frequency sound (20-130 kHz) that bounce off nearby objects. The bats then use the echoes to determine the object’s distance, size and shape. Superbly adapted to flying at night, bats can navigate in total darkness, avoiding the thinnest of wire obstacles in their path with ease.”

Bats typically live from 13 to 18 years and are slow to reproduce with only a single bat pup or twins once a year. According to Critter Catchers in Lake Orion, Michigan, a humane bat removal service, bats should never be “trapped, poisoned, harmed or scared out of an attic” and using pesticide on bats is illegal in Michigan.

To celebrate Bat Week, there are events happing all over the country including educational webinars, bat house installations, themed games, crafts and activities to help adults and children discover the world of bats