Bats the dark crusaders of the night,they come out when the sun is down and take to the dark skies filling our dreams and imaginations with terror. Since as long as most humans and civilizations have been around bats were always a creature people feared. Scary Tales were told in many cultures about the mysterious scary creatures that roamed the night sky said to be looking for victims to eat, and even steal their souls. Over the years the lore and image of the bats has transformed in the public eye; while many still tremble in fear of of these dark creatures of mystery , other tales of the bat began to arise in many different parts world. Tales that to this day live on in works of literature, film, cartoons, and even comic books. Still one thing remains; the bat to many of common folk carries a dark, bad and scary reputation. A reputation that goes as far as blaming them for today’s world pandemic crises. People all over the world overcome with fear and emotion seek to eliminate the bat. Yet they don’t bother to stop and ask… “Are bats really the problem ?” “Do we even understand the importance of this creature in our world around us?”
History and Lore
In the ancient times of 1400 B.C. and 1533 A.D. a time when the Inca civilization was at its prime in Peru and South America; the Inca used bat fur in their royal garments because for them the bat was creature that symbolized life and death. The Incas believed the bats came form the birds only they came out at night. Other ancient civilizations in South America considered bats and bees to be interchangeable along with other flying creature like the butterfly. Aztecs that predated Colombian culture saw bats as the gods of the sky and The Underworld due to their ability to fly in the sky and hang upside down when they slept. the bats were also considered by the Aztecs and important part of agriculture. Since the bats visited the plants at night just as the birds did during the day. Though the ancient Aztecs may not have understood the importance politicization, they understood the importance bats had to nature which is why to this day people in counties of central and South America gather seeds and see them as gifts from the gods which are in the form of bats.
The ancient Maya of Central America had a different view of the bat. They feared a deity whose image resembled the shape of a vampire bat, this deity was known as Camazotz, the god of death. It was said that Camazotz guarded the Underworld and was powerful foe for his enemies. Camazotz whose name literally mean ‘death bat’ in the Mayan language of Ki’chi, can be seen to still have influence in modern day in the works of authors authors like Stephen King’s “The Dark Tower ” series. Where Camazotz is portrayed as one of the beam guardians who takes the form of a bat. Another bat myth known in south america is the myth of a women who’s husband was seduced by a female bat; which the husband would visit in a rotting tree everyday until his wife found out and burned the tree down. along with killing her husband and the female bat. along with this myth was the myth that some women who were married to theri husbands not relizing they were actually bats in disguise.
One countries ancient culture where bats are highly revered is in ancient China. In ancient china bats are believed to be symbols of health, prosperity, good fortune and long life. Here our bat friends can be found on ancient and modern tapestries ,imperial robes, art and other things through out China. Which if you remember growing up with a cartoon on PBS in the 90’s called Sagwa, she had a little bat friend with glasses named fu-fu and his name literally translated to “lucky bat”. Kinda tells how important bats are in their culture and our childhood. There is also a Chinese legend of a demon slayer named Zhong Kui who was lead by five bats. those bats represent the five blessings health, longevity,virtue,wealth, and a graceful death.
In Europe however the bat was given a much more evil ,dark, and grim reputation. Since Europe was largely dominated by Christianity, early Christians who were highly superstitious associated bats with darkness,caves,the Underground,evil, and most notoriously Hell. Everything that Christians feared and are against to this very day. Also since bats were seen roosting in churches and hunting above neighboring cemeteries, early Christians could not help but think the bats had ill intentions just like they though barn owls had ill intentions. Also due to a repression of science and understanding 18th century Christians mistaken the behaviors of such diseases like rabies were often mistaken for the behavioral traits of vampires. Which is where most historians believe the origins of vampire behavioral traits came from like increased sensitivity to sun light, aggressiveness, the thirst for blood etc.
Modern Bat Myth and Lore
On May 26, 1897 Bram Stoker published Dracula, the story that set the basis for many modern vampire myths and adaptations to this day. In today’s modern age pop-culture has cemented the vampire bat into many adaptations. Spanning from Universal pictures 1931 non silent film Dracula, to 80’s horror movies like The Lost Boys, to comic book characters like Blade, Batman, and Morbius and even to Halloween decorations we see every year that always features our favorite animal bats. Whether they influence our imagination in the form of a superhero who fights justice in the shadows or monster we grew up fearing since first seeing it grace the silver screen looking for human blood of victims to feed on. Bats still carry their scary reputation that is shrouded in dark, spooky , yet seductive mystery . However that begs the question is that really all there is to them or is there something we don’t see or understand about the bat fully?
Science,Facts, and Misconceptions
Although the bats have developed the reputation of being associated with vampires, the truth is that vampires have very little to do with bats at all. “What how could that be?” you may ask? Well in fact only 3 of the 1300+ species of bats actually feed on blood and these bats are restricted to Central and South America. Also two out of those three bat species mostly pray and feed on the blood of birds. Another misconception about the vampire bats is that they are bloody thirsty ferocious creatures; in fact according to the national geographic vampire bats are actually quite tame even friendly to humans. One researcher he had a small colony of vampire bats that would come to him whenever he would call their names. no he was not an undead vampire lord, just a good bat handler. However i will add this disclaimer, never try to handle a wild animal folks its very dangerous!
Remember when I said vampire bats aren’t blood thirsty ferocious creatures? Well I guess your next question would be… “How do they hunt for blood?” Well to start bats glide stealthily through the night air, just like the legendary monster the vampire. Vampire bats in Mexico,Central America, and South America who mostly feed on bird blood also feed on the blood of other small animals such as cows,pigs, and horses. These bats do occasionally bite humans for blood but, however its extremely rare! Another fun fact about the vampire bite, is that rather than sucking the blood like a vampire, vampire bats make a small cut their teeth, then lap up the flowing blood with their tongues. That’s right the vampire bats are so light and graceful at this; that they can sometimes drink blood from an animal for 30 minutes without waking it up. interestingly enough the “blood sucking” doesn’t even hurt their prey. So yeah not quite as ferocious as the myths made them out to be.
Though these winged mammals are not as ferocious as people think they posses unique qualities similar to the vampire monster. Researchers have found that vampire bats can sense the sound of another animal breathing, they can even even recognize the breathing pattern of one animal like the cow and return to feed on them night after night. Also vampire bats are the only bat’s who can, walk, run, and jump. this helps them attach to prey a lot easier. Did also mention that they have heat sensors on their nose to find the right spot on the animal to prey on. No wonder Bruce Wayne choose to be Batman, he adapted all their abilities to his gadgets! Guess that’s why he is such a good crime fighter with so many abilities at his arsenal.
If vampire bats don’t get a a nightly meal after two nights in a row they die, thankfully some vampire bats are generous enough to help their brethren. If a vampire bat is well fed they often regurgitate or spit up blood to share with other bats in exchange for grooming. Which is a lot cheaper than going to my barber if I may say so myself. Captive female bats are even friendly towards new mothers, after a bat mom has a baby others bats have been seen feeding the mother bat for about two weeks. Now that’s what I call being a community with a helping hand, or mouth or wing. Now while bat bites may not hurt they can spread a disease commonly known as rabies, which for many centuries have hurt the life stock of farmers to this day specially cattle herds. So I think its safe to say folks in the 18th century who owned farm and cattle didn’t suffer from the attack of an undead vampire, they were just suffering the effects of rabies.
Now while some bats may carry rabies, most bats present a very low disease transmission risk, the truth is while bats are indeed acting as reservoirs for diseases like Ebola,rabies, and others diseases they rarely transmit them. Your in fact more likely to catch rabies from your own dog than bat. You see while bats have also gained the reputation of being associated with disease, they are in fact very clean because they spend a lot of time grooming themselves just like primates.
What Came first the Vampire or The Vampire Bat?
Now here is a uncommonly age old question… “What came first the vampire or the vampire Bat?” You Ready for the answer? Okay here it is.. The vampire bats were named after the vampire stories, yes that’s right the vampire came first. You see the vampire stories only included bat features, which personified the image of the vampire as we see it today. These features were added to the stories when the Spanish discovered bats in South America after conquering it in the 16th century. Also according to the Oxford English Dictionary, the word vampire appeared first in 1734 in a folkloric context, followed by the bat in 1774. Thats how bats became intertwined with the image of the vampire folks.
Bats and Goth Culture
As far as most Goths an darkly inclined folk have known, bats have always been animal that goths have gravitated and taken a liking to. Many goths have used bat images in their clothing, home decor, jewelry, literature,goth films,music and many other peaces of goth accessories, art mediums, and fashion. The bat has been so synonymous with goth culture, that many goths identify with the way bats feel and live. What do I mean by this? Bats tend to keep to themselves and only interact with other bats and stay as clear away from other animals in fear of getting hurt by them. Goths much like the bats are very introverted and keep mostly to themselves, unless they interact with a another fellow goth, mostly due to the mistreatment of common folk who take a disliking to other Gothic folk. Also bats are feared and rejected by many common folk due to their scary and dark appearance, yet bats are actually not scary but friendly. Just how goths are feared and rejected by “ordinary society” due to their dark, black clothing or fashion, and often macabre appearance. Much like the bats goths are misunderstood, which is why the bat resonates as perfect symbol and representation goth culture. In fact it resonates so well that people who are new to the goth scene who choose to embrace their inner dark side are refereed to as baby-bats; as term of endearment for being new comers to the Gothic subculture. If that s not synonymous enough, Gothic musicia and eraly febuaryn and song writer Aurelio Voltaire wrote and produced a song that some goth folk consider an anthem for both bats and goths due to its lyrics which he calls “Raised by Bats” a dark yet light hearten fun uplifting song about being different and embracing the unique difference with in yourself by being raised by bats.
The Year of The Bat 2020 Why Bats Should Be protected
In the present day of 2020 our flying mammal friend faces great danger, A few months ago in late January and February a virus was discovered that became the most devastating virus ever to impact humanity as a whole. This virus we all know as COVID-19. Many reports stated that the virus originated from bats being sold in the exotic markets of China. Though we may not know for certain how this virus came to be, the fear and reaction of many irrational human beings have pointed the finger at our winged nocturnal friends. this has caused many to want to eliminate the bats not realizing the importance they have to the environment and the world around us. So why are bats so important to the world? Bats provide a much needed pest control service to our environment eating bugs that can be harmful to us and our plant life if they were to get to abundant. Also bats like the fruit bat provide pollination to our crops so we can have goods like chocolate,tequila, and mangoes. Also because bats pollinate and disperse fruit it helps forests recover from deforestation. I don’t know about you my readers but I cant imagine living in a world without m&m’s and the beauty of nature can you? I know I can’t! so let make and effort to protect our friends the bats who not only been symbols of inspiration for books, stories,films, and pop-culture to us all but also contributed to the well being of our planets environments. Together we can save the bats and here’s how!
How to Save The Bats
- Educate yourself and others-Start telling people the truth about the bats to people and why they are such important creatures to our environment, get together with family, friends and neighbors or local goth cafe and teach them all about bats the more people know the more allies bats have
- Reduce the use of pesticides –Whether you live on the east coast,west coast or the mid west know that a lot of bats eat insects specially nocturnal insects many of which are pest species. By killing these insects with pesticides you are interfering with there diet and taking away from theri food supply. its like if they shut down your favorite restaurant that you loved eating at or if the grocery store stopped selling your favorite meet or vegetable. feed the hungry bats by minimizing your use of pesticide besides its free pest control if they eat them.
- Promote a Natural Bat Habitats- if you have dead or dying trees around your home where you feel they wont be a hazard, well these are favored roosting place or bats. Its like a hotel for them when they travel. So don’t cut them down keep them up. Also if you live on the West coast don’t trim your palm trees Western yellow bats and Big Brown bats like to Roost under dried fronds
- Protect The Waters- Protect the streams and wetlands to provide clean water sources and foraging area for bats. Also if you own a pool please help prevent the bats from drowning in your swimming pool bats often swoop in for drink in open waters and sometimes miscalculate their swoop and fall in and though they can swim they can drown if there is no place for them to climb out of the pool that is why pool owners can get a Frog Log an expensive device invented by the wildlife biologists of Maryland to help small animals climb out of pools.
- Put Up Bat Houses- just like bat Houses you can also put up bat houses to learn how to build one go to batcon.org to learn how to build a bat house.
- Avoid Disturbing The Bats- Stay out of caves and mines where bats are hibernating in winter. If a bat is disturbed during hibernation, it may excite and make them active. This increased activity can lead to starvation if the bat’s fat reserves are used up before winter is over. So please let them sleep in the winter.
- Safely Remove Visiting Bats- If a bat ever enters your home be sure to use these safe methods on how to remove a bat from your home or you can contact that uses safe removal methods in bat removal methods.
- Keep Your Cat inside- If your a cat owner keep your cat inside, cats are a non- native predator to the Bat and other small animal and can disturb the balance of the population and ego system.
- Prevent White Noise Syndrome-White noise syndrome is disease that’s responsible for the deaths of millions of bats grt your community to make an ever to stop to find out how go to whitenoseesyndrome.org
- Help The Cause- Join any of these organizations on bat conservation Batmanagement.com, NJBatman.com, and Batworld.org