Bats are animals that people resent because they perceive them to be creepy filthy creatures. For this reason, the animals are killed at high rates. There are very few communities in the world that consider bats as food and therefore the bats are not considered useful to humans in anyway. However scientists warn of aimless killing of bats because they are useful in ecological balance and are useful for human survival. This essay provides insights on the role of bats in the ecology and how they help in human survival.
Currently there are over 1200 species of bats existing on earth; only 2 percent of these bats are harmful to humans and animals. However, bats are tame creatures and only attack when they are threatened. Bats are important creatures in bringing a balance in the ecosystem (Szoke, & Hornok, 2016). Most of the bats on earth are insectivorous and are very essential in nocturnal insect control. Bats help in maintaining human life by consuming millions of pests each year. For farmers this is an important activity that saves them millions of dollars. If the bats are to be eliminated then production of food would not be possible. Bats are also known to feast on pests that threaten human survival such as the mosquitoes. It is reported that a single brown bat can consume up to a thousand mosquitoes in an hour (Szoke, & Hornok, 2016). Therefore bats are useful in the ecosystem in the sense that they bring a balance to the ecosystem by eating up harmful pets.
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Bats are useful animal for seed dispersal; according to a research bats can fly for thousands of miles. They fly far than most any other animals involved in dispersing seeds (Denmead et al., 2017) Therefore when the fruitvorous bats consume fruits and travel far distances they will help in dispersing fruits through their droppings. Therefore they will assist the plants in growing and surviving in a variety of locations. Bats are helping in survival of human beings by dispersing fruits like figs, cashews and dates. Moreover there are nectar-eating bats that help in pollinating hundreds of plant species. Without them some flowering plants would not have the ability to produce seeds (Szoke, & Hornok, 2016).
References
Denmead, L. H., Darras, K., Clough, Y., Diaz, P., Grass, I., Hoffmann, M. P., ... & Tscharntke, T. (2017). The role of ants, birds and bats for ecosystem functions and yield in oil palm plantations. Ecology .
Szoke, K., & Hornok, S. (2016). Epidemiological significance of bats (Chiroptera) in Europe, with emphasis on their bloodsucking ectoparasites as potential transmitters of vector-borne pathogens. MAGYAR ALLATORVOSOK LAPJA , 138 (1), 15-29.
