By: Cave Spelunking
Bats are called trogloxenes. Trogloxenes are animals that live part of their lives in caves. Bats are strange-looking creatures and have been the subject of many horror stories. They're associated with Halloween and witches and ghouls and goblins and things that go bump in the night. But bats have a bad reputation that isn't really deserved.
Okay, I admit, bats aren't ever going to win any beauty contest, and they really are weird looking. But the truth is that we all need bats. Some bats eat insects. Without bats, our world would soon be overrun with all kinds of insects. Bats also are pollinators of plants that bloom at night. Without bats, we wouldn't have bananas, cashews, mangos, or figs, because bees only work during daylight hours. Bats pollinate these plants.
Some bats eat fruit, pollen, and nectar. These bats are essential to the survival of the world's rain forests.
There are 46 different species of bats in the United States. Most of these (2/3) use caves or structures that resemble caves like abandoned mines. Bats give birth to their young and raise them in caves during the summer months; and during the winter months, bats hibernate in caves. Humans have encroached upon the bat's living space to the point that some bat species are endangered.
There's one thing that all spelunkers have in common, and that is a great respect for Mother Nature and the world that we live in. They are conservationists (although they might not identify themselves as such); they care about the Earth and the things that live on it and in it. That's why conscientious cavers avoid caves that are being used by hibernating bats during the winter months as well as during summer months to protect the mommy bats and their young.
Rock On & Keep Spelunking...
Cave Spelunking.
Posts
