Bat Appreciation Day

APPRECIATE ME: This is a little brown myotis (Myotis lucifugus) – one of the more common bats in the qathet region. Others are the Townsend’s bigeared bat (Corynorhinus townsendii), the hoary bat (Lasiurus cinereus) and the big brown bat (Eptesicus fuscus).

Three things to love about BC bats

On April 17, Canada celebrates National Bat Appreciation Day. What’s to celebrate? qathet biologist Andrew Bryant explains:

• We have more bat species than any other Canadian province (15 species breed here – and a couple more “accidental species.”)

• Bats are of tremendous ecological importance. They pollinate plants, eat massive numbers of insects (think mosquitoes), and though small, live a very long time (one Little Brown Bat in Ontario was recorded living 28 years).

• When one gets close…they are truly beautiful.