Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
I then phoned Dr. Robert Johnson, veterinarian for the Vermont Health Department. After reviewing
the incident, he determined that, according to the rabies protocol established by the National Institutes
of Health, I had not been exposed to rabies. However, during further discussion with Dr. Johnson, I
learned about the rabies pre-immunization series.
Pre-immunization consists of a series of three shots over a period of about four weeks (a single
booster shot per year is required thereafter to maintain immunity). Unlike the treatment after exposure
to rabies, which provides immediate immunity, this series builds a person's immunity gradually.
I felt that this treatment was well worthwhile and went ahead with it. Each shot cost me only thirty-
five dollars at a local health clinic, and I can testify to the painlessness of it; I literally didn't even feel
one of the shots, and the other two were no more than tiny pin pricks. There was no soreness in my arm
later, either. So much for the notion that modern rabies shots are extremely painful!
Occasionally a bat will, by some means or another, enter a home and fly about. Usually utter panic
ensues, with frantic efforts to kill the creature. This is precisely the wrong reaction! Clearly, it isn't
desirable to have bats in one's home, any more than mice, squirrels, and assorted other little beasties
belong in our living room, bedroom, or kitchen—but there's a better and more effective way than trying
to demolish the bat. In most such cases, the bat is a young one setting out on its own. It's confused, and
would be just as happy to leave as the human occupants would be to see it depart. In this situation, if
doors and windows are opened, the bat will usually find its own way out in a very short time.
Bats may also inhabit parts of a building outside our living quarters. It's beyond the scope of this
topic to list all the many ways of keeping bats from roosting in an attic, under the eaves, or in other
places where they might not be wanted. Your state wildlife or natural resource agency, or an organiza-
tion such as Bat Conservation International, can provide that sort of detailed information.
So far, I've tried only to demolish some of the myths, superstitions, and gross exaggerations that
have been attached to bats over many centuries. Now it's time to move on and view the bat in a very
different light.
The truth is that bats are enormously beneficial, especially in controlling insects. One bat can eat sev-
eral thousand insects in a single night, and the 20 million Mexican free-tailed bats that roost in Bracken
Cave, Texas, consume an estimated one-quarter to one-half million pounds of insects each night! Some
North American bats, and a number of tropical species, are also invaluable as plant pollinators.
In fact, it's difficult to overestimate the role of bats in controlling a wide variety of insects, many
of them harmful—or at least unpleasant—to humans. A single little brown bat can devour up to
twelve
hundred
mosquito-sized insects in an evening. Imagine what it might be like around our homes if these
industrious little insect traps weren't patrolling our surroundings night after night, snapping up mos-
quitoes, gnats, and other biting insects! Small wonder, then, that many people have chosen to erect bat
houses near their homes to encourage a greater population of bats.
One of the more durable myths about bats is the notion that they're a sort of flying mouse. This
belief no doubt made sense in the days when science was far more primitive—and error-prone—than it
