Ever sat in your backyard on a nice clear, peaceful evening? You sit and relax, enjoying the night sky when out of the corner of your eye you see a strange movement. As you look closer you see a small winged shadow dancing in the sky. You watch in wonder as it darts to and fro. As you are mesmerized by this beautiful dance, you realize those are bats flying in your yard! Suddenly you realize those bats are eating the mosquitoes that have left itching red welts on your arms.
Here in Houston, we have eleven different species of bats. The most common is the Mexican free-tailed bat. Bats usually live in colonies that vary in size. One colony of 100 Mexican free-tailed bats will eat 1,000 tons (2 million lbs.) of mosquitoes in one night. That is a whole lot of mosquitoes not biting you!
On May 8th, we will be having Bat Awareness Day. Throughout the day, there will be special bat chats in the Children’s Zoo. You can also sign up for a class in the Backyard Wildlife Series devoted to our batty friends. This class gives you the unique opportunity to build a bat house to hang in your own backyard. You will learn more about bats and conservation. All proceeds will be donated to the Friends of Trinity Wildlife Refuge, a local group that is involved in bat research and conservation. You can sign up for this class by going to http://www.houstonzoo.org/backyard-wildlife-series/.
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