Most of us don’t think about bats very much. But with the weather getting warmer, and the mosquitoes soon to begin their annual assault, we should be thinking about our furry, flying friends.
B.C. and the Lower Mainland are home to several small species of bats, two of them endangered and one a species of special concern.
Despite their reputation and association with horror movies, bats are great to have around. Most of the small species that live here are insectivores – they live to eat bugs.
So they aren’t bloodsuckers – it’s the exact opposite.
They spend their summers swallowing up mosquitoes, the actual flying blood drinkers.
If we could double the bat population of the Lower Mainland, we’d have fewer mosquitoes once the summer hits.
Unfortunately, the B.C. government has recently announced that the fungus that causes white-nose syndrome has been detected in bat guano samples from Metro Vancouver.
The fungus first appeared in B.C. in 2022 in Grand Forks.
The fungal disease disrupts the bats winter hibernation, burning up their energy reserves.
Preventing the spread of diseases like white-nose syndrome may be difficult, but we should do what we can.
An ecosystem with a healthy bat population is one that’s a lot more pleasant to live in for us humans.
That’s not just the absence of some mosquitoes. Environments that can support bats also support birds, squirrels, deer, and other wildlife.
If we enhance our parks, our greenways, our street trees and backyard forests, we’ll have more bats, more salmon. We’ll have cooler summers thanks to the effect of an expansive tree canopy.
To learn more about bats, visit bcbats.ca.