Gaia Environmental Services

23/05/2018

New UW-Madison research conducted throughout Wisconsin suggests that bats may indeed be effective exterminators of mosquitoes.

22/05/2018

Happy UN International Biodiversity Day! Bats account for more than a quarter of mammal species in the UK and around 20% of all mammal species worldwide. Bats play an essential part in the natural world and are indicators of a healthy environment. Their future is directly linked to our quality of life and the quality of our environment.

17/05/2018

WCS’s Sarah Olson introduces us to the extraordinary fig-eating, seed-dispersing, forest-helping hammer-headed fruit bat: http://bit.ly/2IF00UH

20/04/2018

5 atypically colored bats,

19/04/2018

14/04/2018

Albino bat, Odaesan National Park, Sourh Korea
source: http://photo.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2017/01/09/2017010902423.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uFnDo5lXZso

20/03/2018

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27/02/2018

110 years ago, one man set out to rid Texas of Malaria - with the help of what was then a very unlikely source... bats! Dr. Charles A. Campbell had a simple plan. He knew that bats eat mosquitoes, and believed that if he could entice thousands of bats to live in Malaria-ridden areas, they would single-wingedly eradicate the disease. After years of fruitless experimentation with small roosting boxes, he decided to go BIG, with a 30-foot tower containing roosting shelves, guano lures, and a meal plan - three large hams! The $500 contraption was, alas, a flop. Campbell realized that he didn’t understand bats enough to provide suitable homes. He spent months studying caves and roosts to learn what bats needed most. In 1911 he constructed a new, improved tower at Mitchell's Lake, where 90% of the locals were sick with Malaria. Within 4 years, Mitchell’s Lake was Malaria-free. Word spread of the bat roost’s success, and 16 "Municipal Bat Roosts" went up from San Antonio to Italy, eradicating the disease wherever they were placed.

Dr. Campbell, inventor of the bat house, medical pioneer, unintentional bat scientist, was responsible for saving hundreds of lives from Malaria, and for the subsequent statewide protection of all bats in Texas for over 30 years. He proved that bats could coexist with human beings, and make our lives better because of it. So for Febuary, remember Dr. Campbell, and remember to love a bat today! (Thank you to Mark N. for finding the photo!)

18/02/2018

The Bats That Never Get Old (or at least, their cells don't)

http://bit.ly/2Eo6pCk

12/01/2018

NZ once home to a burrowing bat three times the size of the average bat today.

30/12/2017

that bats require pooled water in order to take a drink? This is because they drink while in flight. A thirsty bat will swoop down and use their tongue or lower jaw to scoop up a refreshing gulp of water!

Read more interesting bat facts over at www.batcon.org