International Bat Week runs, fittingly, through Oct. 31, and aims to celebrate the often misunderstood insect-munching, flying mammal.
The stuff of nightmares and novels, bats also do an immense amount of beneficial work, especially in keeping pest insect numbers in check.
Sure, they're kind of cute, but what about rabies?
The top misconception that Alyssa Bennett, a small mammal biologist with Vermont Fish and Wildlife, said she hears about bats is that they're "all rabid and want to suck your blood."
"In fact, it's a really small percentage of bats that really are infected with the rabies virus: less than 1% in the natural population," Bennett said.
And Vermont is too far north for vampire bat species, the only type of bat that feeds on blood. The nine bats that live in Vermont are strict about their insect-only diets.
"They're eating things that fly around at night, but also insects that even could be on trees," Bennett said. "And those are pests to our forests; they're pests to us individually, like mosquitoes. They're also pests to agriculture."
Bats by the numbers
Recently, researchers identified the 1,500th bat species worldwide. Of the nine species that call Vermont home, five are considered threatened or endangered.
Similar to migratory birds, late autumn marks bats' seasonal transition in Vermont. Bennett said when temperatures in our region cool, eastern red, hoary and silver-haired bats fly to the southeastern United States or even Central and South America.
Vermont's other six bat species stay for winter, biding their time in caves and mines around the region.
As for population health after a fungal disease called white-nose syndrome decimated millions of bats beginning in 2008, Bennett said some species in Vermont seem to be stable and doing well.
"And they may, in fact, be filling in a niche from other species that really plummeted," she said.
Certain species are still struggling in Vermont, like the northern long-eared bat and the tricolored bat.
Did you know bats have fingers?
After rodents, bats are the second-largest mammal, and they're found on every continent except Antarctica. They range in size from tiny (around the size of a bee) to Chihuahua-sized (like these enormous, fruit-eating flying foxes of the Philippines).
Bats' anatomy makes them multi-functional flying machines. They're the only flying mammal that actually flies on their fingers.
"Their hands have these very, very long fingers, like if yours were to reach from you standing up with your arms stretched out, your fingers [would] reach all the way to the ground. That would be the length of a bat's fingers," Bennett said.
Bats catch and hold their food in their wing membranes, she added.
How not to become a bat landlord
For all Bennett's devotion to bats, she said she's empathetic to Vermonters who would rather not live closely with the creatures roosting in attics, houses and barns.
While rabies cases may be rare, Bennett said the department takes the risk seriously and doesn't want people handling bats themselves.
If a single bat or a whole colony is in a building on your property, Bennett said Vermont Fish and Wildlife staff can walk you through removal and talk through any concerns about rabies exposure.
"It's really fine to kick them out!" Bennett said.
