At a recent Hamilton Green Club meeting, we put up a bat house. To prepare, we learned why bats are important. Bats eat mosquitoes and crop eating insects. They pollinate plants just like bees. Vampire Bats have an enzyme in their saliva that is used in medicine to treat stroke patients. Interestingly, scientists are even studying echolocation to help the blind.
We also learned about a bat’s habitat and some traits that make them unique. Bats are nocturnal and have big ears to help their echolocation. They are the only mammal able to fly.
We compared the wingspan of bats across the US and other places in the world. Some got to try on some bat wings. The wingspan was based off of the Indian Flying Fox, which can get up to 4ft 11in. This is one of the largest bats in the world!
We played a game to help Green Club understand Echolocation. One student would be blindfolded, the ‘bat’, and the other was a ‘moth’. The ‘bat’ would clap and the ‘moth’ would clap back(Similar to the game Macro Polo). Then, the moth took two steps away and the bat took two steps to try and catch the moth.
To end the Green Club meeting, we put up the bat house. It was exciting to see and wonder about the possibly of gaining a new neighbor. Especially after learning so much about bats.
