Laurie Snider
Notes from the Nest
“Double, double toil and trouble; Fire burn and cauldron bubble; Eye of newt and toe of frog; Wool of bat and tongue of dog.”
Have you ever wondered just what those sinister sounding ingredients were, that the three witches in Shakespeare’s Macbeth, were tossing so menacingly into the pot?
Well sorry to disappoint you, but really these were just sorcerer code words, for some less than frightening flowers, herbs and plants. Toe of frogs are buttercups. Eye of newt is something you probably put on your hotdogs, as in mustard (seeds) and wool of bats are beautiful holly leaves.
Just as many may have jumped to negative conclusions about these plants due to their scary sounding names, the same kind of unfavorable judgements, have been made about the historically, misunderstood mammal, bats. Bats have often been associated with all things dark, dire, gloomy and grim. Especially at this time of year, when goblins, ghosts, monsters and mummies are soon to be found lurking on a street-corner, near you, albeit politely petitioning for sweets.
Halloween’s roots can be traced back to the ancient, Celtic festival of Samhain, which occurred Oct. 31 each year. The Celts believed that this was the night that ghosts and evil spirits, returned to earth in search of mischievousness, waggery and hijinks. In order to ward off these roguish rascals, huge bonfires (or bone fires), were lit and sacrificial offerings were made.
The Celts, weren’t the only ones attracted to the warmth and glow, from their toasty fires. The bugs were also happy to flit, fly and enjoy some pleasant perspiring, by the blazing embers. This of course enticed all the bats in the neighbourhood, to pop by the fire too, looking for an easy meal.
All of this swooping, flying and darting about in search of prey, spooked the Celts into believing, they were the returning spirits of the dead.
Bats have gotten a bum rap, when it comes to Halloween, ever since. Bram Stoker’s Dracula, in 1897, with its blood-sucking, shape-shifting vampires into bats, only added to their creepy reputation.
Bats have evolved over the past 60 million years and exist on every continent, except Antarctica. There are over 1,300 bat species, worldwide. They belong to the class chiroptera, meaning ‘hand-wing,’ and are more closely related to humans, than they are to rodents, like rats or mice. They’re the second largest order of mammals on earth and comprise about 20 per cent of mammal species, in the world. They’re the only mammals, capable of true and sustained flight. Flying squirrels glide not fly.
The smallest bat in the world, is the Kitti’s hog-nosed bat, also known as, the bumblebee bat. It may in fact be the world’s smallest mammal, competing with Shrews. The largest bat is, the giant golden-crowned, flying fox bat. Quite a handle! It’s wing-span, is over six feet. Because of the large amount of energy required for flying, some bats have hearts three times the size of similar sized mammals, beating 1,000 times a minute.
Bats eat a ton of insects and are vital to the economy. In the US alone, they save the agricultural industry from $3.7 to 53 billion per year, in costs from damage to crops from pests. Some bats eat fruit and provide a vital role there as well, scattering seeds and some also help with pollination. Of all the bat species, only 3 are vampire bats, that eat the blood of some animals.
Despite the old adage, “Blind as a bat,” it really isn’t true. Bats aren’t blind and some see better than humans, with day and night vision. Others only see low levels of light, using echolocation to find their food. They don’t fly at you either, or get tangled in your hair, as they’re able to detect things as fine as a hair, with their amazing sonar.
All mammals are capable of spreading rabies, including bats, but less than 1 percent do. Histoplasmosis, fungal spores, found in bat dung or guano, can also be found in soil and waste, from humans and other animals. Bat manure, is one of the world’s richest fertilizers.
Of the eight bat species, Ontario is home to, four are endangered. A horribly, nasty, fungal infection called white-nose syndrome, discovered in 2006, has been killing them by the thousands. As they only produce one pup per year, this is devastating news and the government is taking steps to protect the rest.
So this Halloween, instead of fearing these astounding, extraordinary, incredible super-fliers, try to appreciate them instead. And next spring, when the true vampires, mosquitos and black flies, start sucking your blood, consider building a bat house and inviting these mosquito, munching marvels, to move into your neighbourhood. You’ll be grateful you did!