Urban Zoo. No they're not out of hell

Victims of false beliefs and literature, bats have long been linked to ghosts, graveyards and spooky things.

Our Founder-Trustee Ms Alpana Bhartia on what these flying mammals are all about. 

Bats belong to the mammalian order Chiroptera, which is handwing in Greek. Some members of this group of flying mammals have existed in their present form for at least 50 million years. Almost a thousand different species are known worldwide. In Bangalore, the first survey of bats almost a century ago recorded 24 species. In recent times only eight species have been recorded.

The decline could be due to the use of pesticides and a change in the landscape ecology of the city, which would have destroyed their natural habitat.

Movies, television, and comic books often perpetuate myths and fears about bats that a surprising number of people believe. Bats have been associated with graveyards, death, ghosts, and goblins. But the fact is that bats do not get into your hair, they are not flying mice, they don't come out of hell, they are not blind, and the vampire bat is nowhere to be found in India. To the Chinese, bats are symbols of health, wealth, serenity, virtue, and long life. The reason could be that more than 400 species of plants in the tropics rely on bats for pollination and these yield over 300 products of economic value including drinks, dyes, fibres, animal fodder, food, fresh fruit, fuelwood, medicines, ornamental plants, tannins, timber and other wood products. Yet, the bats that pollinate these valuable plants are often intensely persecuted by people who are ignorant of their many values.

Approximately 70 percent of the fruits sold in tropical markets rely on bats for pollination or seed dispersal in the wild. These include bananas, plantains, breadfruit, peaches, dates, figs and many more. maintenance of wild stocks of these invaluable plants is essential since they provide the genetic variety required to resist diseases. The Indian short-nosed fruit bat is frugivorous and they locate their preferred food items by scent. They have been described as voracious feeders, eating more than their body weight in food in one sitting. It is common in tropical and mangrove forests. These bats pollinate many night-blooming flowers. They typically nest high in palm trees. the bats chew the fronds of the palms to construct simple tents. When palms are not available, these bats are also known to construct tents by closely interweaving the leaves and twigs of creeping vines that cover buildings. bats typically seek shelter in roosts during the daytime and are active on the wing at night departing their roosts shortly after sunset and returning before sunrise.

The police commissioner's office compound on Infantry Road houses a large colony of bats that are left undisturbed. The occasional single bat discovered in the room of a building is most likely to be a young individual that has lost its way while learning how to fly. Turn on the lights, open the doors and windows, and the bat will leave on its own.




If you find an injured bat that seems unable to fly contact our rescue helpline on 9900025370!

Originally written for and Published by Times of India(August 21, 2001)