Bats provide “ecosystem services” that are important to the health and well-being of humans.
This is according to conservation biologist and bat researcher Dr Rachael Cooper-Bohannon, who is part of the non-profit organisation Bats Without Borders.
“As well as (being)important pollinators and seed dispersers, bats have a huge appetite for insects. A study in the US showed that pregnant females can eat up to their body weight in insects per night – which explains why bats are important for regulating insects,” she said.
Erna Balona of the Gauteng and Northern Regions Bat Interest Group (GNoR BIG) said that it was for this reason that bats helped with pest and disease control.
“They form an important component of our biodiversity,” she said.
Fruit bats, meanwhile, are vital for seed dispersal.
“The seeds are not digested but pass through the bat unharmed to be dropped away from the parent tree where they can germinate and grow. (This keeps) our indigenous forests growing and helps to regenerate forests where they have been damaged or cleared. The baobab and sausage trees in southern Africa are pollinated by bats,” she said.
The Agave plant from which tequila is made is also pollinated by bats.
Cooper-Bohannon and Balona said it was unfortunate that bats were viewed with suspicion and fear.
“Bats are more afraid of you than you are of them. They will not fly into your hair; they will do you no harm. The only time you are likely to be bitten by a bat is if you handle it. They are clean animals that groom themselves regularly (and) they do not spread parasites to humans,” said Balona.
Despite this, human interference is a massive threat to bat populations.
Cooper-Bohannon explained that bats accounted for about 25 percent of mammal species globally.
South Africa, Swaziland and Lesotho have at least 61 species, but little is known about many of them, making it difficult to assess threats.
“Worryingly, a quarter of these species are considered to be threatened or we simply do not have sufficient data with which to assess them and four of these threatened species are found only in South Africa,” she said.
Cave disturbances, land and forest clearing, development, the use of pesticides and timber treatment poisons, and wind farms are all threats to these creatures.
For assistance and advice on how to deal with bats and remove them ethically without killing them, contact GNoR BIG via www.batsgauteng.org.za.