Bats Are Friends of Farmers

Above, a brown bat.

Source: Western Farm Press, April 16, 2011

I read an interesting article yesterday.

Did you know that bats save the agricultural industry in the U.S. at least $3 billion a year by eating crop-destroying insects? It's true! But bats are the "most overlooked economically important, non-domesticated animals in North America," noted a study by scientists from the University of Pretoria (South Africa), the U.S. Geological Survey, the University of Tennessee and Boston University.

The value of bats' pest control services in the U.S. alone range from a low of $3.7billion to a high of $53 billion a year. A single brown bat, which has a body about the size of a human adult thumb, can eat up to 4 to 8 grams of insects a night. This may not seem like much at first glance, but it does add up.

The study also warned that economic losses could occur in the next four to five years due to an emerging disease called "white-nose syndrome" and fatalities of some migratory bats at wind turbine facilities. The loss of one million bats in the Northeast may have resulted in 660 and 1,320 metric tons of insects no longer being eaten. Why some bat species are susceptable to wind turbines remains a mystery.

The authors of the study feel that solutions to the white-nose syndrome and collisions with wind turbines may be found in the next few years. One estimate in 2007 puts the loss of bats due to collisions with wind turbines (or air pressure changes around them) at 33,000 to 111,000, just in the Mid-Atlantic Highlands. (Gee, I thought wind-produced energy was supposed to be safe for the environment!)

Such work will require wider public awareness and support for these insectivorous bats to make possible solutions a national priority.