{"id":660,"date":"2024-04-16T21:06:38","date_gmt":"2024-04-16T21:06:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/careerxposure.net\/?p=660"},"modified":"2024-04-23T17:14:42","modified_gmt":"2024-04-23T17:14:42","slug":"celebrating-bat-conservation-from-chiroptophobia-to-coexistence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/careerxposure.net\/index.php\/2024\/04\/16\/celebrating-bat-conservation-from-chiroptophobia-to-coexistence\/","title":{"rendered":"Celebrating Bat Conservation: From Chiroptophobia to Coexistence"},"content":{"rendered":"
Though the groundhog may forecast the end of winter, nature has a bounty of more subtle signs that indicate the arrival of spring. Crocuses, hyacinths and snowdrops are the first to burst from the thawing ground. Soft, sweet-smelling magnolias flutter in the breeze and electric-yellow forsythia hums with the beating wings of bees. Longer days make for warmer nights and April showers bring a lot more than May flowers…<\/p>\n
Mayflies and mosquitos enter a breeding frenzy. Thick, buzzing clouds billow in the humid air and drown out the moonlight sonata of the spring peepers. Suddenly, your sunset stroll along the water’s edge turns into the jitterbug as you swing, squirm and flail to out-maneuver the tiny bloodsuckers. Fortunately, your thirst for vengeance is shared by another. Emerging from the shadows like a dark knight, the winged creature sweeps and swirls across the sky. The speedy spectral leaves only a trail of chirps before disappearing once more into the forest. Was it a bird?<\/em> A pterosaur? A drone?\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n Your guesses aren’t too far-fetched. Like birds, they possess a wing membrane (patagium<\/em>), and like toothed whales, they echolocate. They belong to the order Chiroptera. <\/em>Commonly known as the bat, this evolutionary enigma is the only mammal capable of true flight. Other bat powers include eating 1,000 to 4,000 pesky insects a night, pollinating fruits and flowers, dispersing seeds and growing the local economy through ecotourism.<\/p>\n Despite all the ecosystem services they perform, bats are among the most controversial, misunderstood and undervalued animals. According to the IUCN Red List<\/a>, 29 bat species are critically endangered, 89 are endangered and 121 are considered vulnerable.\u00a0Centuries of demonization coupled with sensationalized media coverage of bats as reservoirs of viruses, particularly in relation to the COVID-19 pandemic, feed public fears. This irrational fear of bats as disease vectors, pests or evil spirits\u2014known as chiroptophobia\u2014represents a significant barrier to bat conservation globally.<\/p>\n This spring, as bats wake from hibernation and migrate home, look to your allies in the skies and join us in celebrating International Bat Appreciation Day (April 17), created to spread awareness and give bats the recognition they deserve. <\/strong><\/p>\nInternational Bat Appreciation Day<\/h2>\n