When is National Bat Appreciation Day?
April 17th is National Bat Appreciation Day.
What is National Bat Appreciation Day?
Bats are strange. They inspire nightmarish tales of horror and cheap Halloween decorations. That’s not the whole story though, and National Bat Appreciation Day celebrates these exceptional creatures.
The fact is, bats are a gift. As insectivores, they eat bugs. They eat a lot of bugs. One bat can eat over 6,000 mosquito-sized insects a night. One way to cut down on the bugs in your area is to support your bat populations.
But aren’t they gross? Don’t they all have rabies? Well, gross is a relative term, so that depends on what kind of heebie jeebies they give you. But no, they do not all have rabies. Most don’t even drink blood. The bloodsuckers—vampire bats of Central and South America—mainly go in for cattle, taking tiny doses because they weigh a whopping two ounces.
Never handle a bat unless it’s absolutely necessary. That’s true for all wild animals. But don’t forget about them either. Take National Bat Appreciation Day to get a glimpse the secret lives of our nation’s bats.
Fun facts about National Bat Appreciation Day!
Bats are the only mammal that can truly fly. All other “flying” mammals only glide.
There are 1,300 bat species around the world, and 50 of these live in the U.S. Indonesia boasts 219 species, the most of any country.
In a U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study, only 5% or 6% of bats tested positive for rabies.
The largest bat in the world is the Giant Golden-Crowned Flying Fox bat. It lives in the Philippines and has a wingspan over 5 feet wide!
How to celebrate National Bat Appreciation Day:
Build a bat house to encourage local bats to feast upon your insects!
Watch a classic Dracula movie.
Attend a seminar or do your own research to find out what other ways bats affect our ecosystems.
What’s the hashtag for National Bat Appreciation Day?
Use #BatAppreciationDay on social media to celebrate these enigmatic creatures.