Batty Mail

Because it is Halloween season I have bats on my small mind today. Get ready for batty news in this blog, but remember you can not escape a bat at Halloween, so just read on.
Bats are a curious part of our mythology. They have long been ad associated with vampires and other supernatural beings. this has transferred bats into a symbol often displayed at Halloween. Maybe the novel 'Dracula" by Bram Stoker or the many films based on that book have made bats so attractive at Halloween.
But there were other factors that popularized the myth of bats turning into sucking the blood of humans. During Medieval times it was believed the devil turned himself into a bat. Later in the 16th century, the Spanish explorers in America saw vampire bats (blood suckers) feeding off the blood of other animals. When they returned to Europe and told their stories of what they saw bats became synonymous with vampires.
But wait! Bats are not evil creatures. They are mostly gentle and very beneficial to humans in riding the environment of some real evil creatures that can cause disease and havoc among human populations. While I love the fun aspect of vampire bats and bat decorations at halloween I am here to tell you some no scary truths about bats. here are a few.
- Vampire bats really do exit. However, only three out of 950 known bat species are vampires (suck blood)
-Most species of bats live 12 to 15 years, but some last 30 years. Uh..only Hollywood vampire bats live forever.
- Bats are social animals, not the loners we see in scary movies. They live in colonies, often in caves, but also in trees buildings, under bridges and in your E mail today. One cave in Texas is estimated to contain 20 million bats.
- Vampire bats drink blood through a kind of drinking straw that the bat makes with its tongue and lower lip. So those sexy lady bats in those movies don't actually chomp on the neck...but if pretty wanne be bats would like to taste me, I welcome it.
- It is not uncommon for a vampire bat to return to the same animal night after night, weakening and killing it. Hmmmmm Sounds like what some gold diggers do to their rich human sugar daddies.
- Bats are the only mammals that fly (well, some human athletes have been known to fly after injecting some performance enhancement drugs before competition)
- Bats are major assets in controlling insect populations. pollinating plants and distributing seeds necessary in perpetuating the circle of life in ecosystems. This means the average bat is far more useful than is George Bush.
- Bats are not blind. They have great night vision. It must be because of those tiny pairs of glasses they wear...
- Less than 1/2 of 1% of bats carry rabies, making being bitten by a bat less dangerous than being bitten by Paris Hilton!
So give those bats a break this Halloween and thereafter. If not.,..may Paris bite you where it hurts...