Many people misunderstand bats and assume they want to terrorize people, be caught in their hair, have rabies (less than 1% of the bat population), drink blood, and generally cause mayhem to humans. In truth, bats are one of our most beneficial insectivores, eating up to their body weight each night, the equivalent of 1,200-1,500 bugs an hour! Just imagine fewer pesky mosquitos and harmful bugs that hurt our crops. Bats are pollinators that help with our plants as well as seed distributors.
CDPL will be hosting an educational program on Bats of Indiana as part of the Library Naturalist series. This series runs each month for the entire year with a new topic. The presentation will discuss the characteristics of bats, identification features, reproduction, hibernation, and migration. In addition, we will look at a host of bats that call Indiana home, like our very own Indiana bat (Myotis sodalis) which was first discovered here in 1928.
The “Bats of Indiana” program will take place at 10 a.m. Saturday at the library in Classroom D. If you joined us for the January Library Naturalist kickoff and created your nature journal, be sure to bring it to this program. You may write, draw, sketch, color, or paint and add any other interesting information you want to your notebook. Markers, colored pencils, and paints will be provided to patrons to use during the program. Each participant who attends will receive a custom-made bat sticker you can add to your nature notebook.
If you prefer to have a book in hand, we have several items in our non-fiction collection to help with your bat research. If you are new to bats and looking for general information, then check out “Stokes Beginner Guide to Bats” by Kim Williams (599.4 Wil). For more in-depth information, you can look into “Walker’s Bats of the World” by Ronald Nowak (599.4 Now). Other books we have include “The Secret Lives of Bats” by Merlin Tuttle (599.4 Tut) and “Bats in Question: The Smithsonian Answer Book” by Don Wilson (599.4 Wil). We also have a multitude of bat books, both fiction and nonfiction for the little ones who have an interest in these flying mammals (check out our Children’s and Youth department for further information).
If you prefer to do your own internet research, there is a variety of resources at your disposal. You can look into Bat Conservation International (batcon.org), Bat World Sanctuary (batworld.org), or the North American Bat Conservation Alliance (batconservationalliance.org).
We hope to see you at our Bats of Indiana program at 10 a.m. Saturday. This program is appropriate for adults and teens ages 12 and up.
The library is open 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Thursday; 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday and Saturday; and 1-5 p.m. Sunday. For all your bat-related questions, call the CDPL Reference desk at 765-362-2242 to speak with Stephanie.
Stephanie Morrissette is an avid naturalist and a library assistant in the Reference and Local History at the Crawfordsville District Public Library.
