HOW DO BATS
HELP HUMANS?
Many bats are truly
very helpful to people.
Here's How! 
                                                                                                           photo (c) Merlin Tuttle/Bat Conservation International ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
            Some bats help control the insect population.
For example.
Don't want mosquitoes?
A single little brown bat can catch 600 Mosquitoes
in just one hour.
Bugs bugging you?
The 20 million Mexican free-tail bats from Bracken Cave, Texas
can eat 250 tons of insects in a night!

BESIDES
With bats eating all those insects, this means fewer chemicals and poisons will be used on crops, and that's healthier for all of us!
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Certain Bats are helpful to farmers.

For example.
A colony of just 150 big brown bats can aid farmers by eating up to 18 million or more rootworms each summer.
BESIDES
This saves crops from damage, and
makes more food available at the market.

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Many bats spread seeds for new plants and trees.

For example.
Tropical bats are important to rain forests.  They pollinate flowers
and drop seeds for many trees and bushes.

In the wild, important plants, from bananas and mangos to nuts, dates and figs,
depend upon bats for pollination and seed dropping.

In the southwestern part of the United States, nectar-feeding bats
are the main pollinators of the giant saguaro cactus.
BESIDES
By helping to rebuild cut forests, bats are also making sure
other animals continue to have homes, shelter and food.
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The Vampire bat might help scientists.

The saliva from the vampire bat  is being studied to see if someday
a new medicine can be found to help people with heart problems.
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WE CAN PROTECT BATS BY TELLING OTHERS HOW
HELPFUL AND USEFUL THEY ARE.
BUT REMEMBER, BATS ARE WILD ANIMALS AND YOU SHOULD NEVER TOUCH THEM.   YOU MUST LEAVE THEM ALONE.

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