Time to turn bats’ image on its head

Bats undeservedly get a bad rap as our only flying mammal is a harmless creature who doesn’t deserve its scary reputation and association with madness says Emer Sexton.

It is almost Halloween and suddenly things that we don’t give any thought to for the rest of the year are uppermost in our minds – pumpkins, capes, black crepe-paper, orange face-paint and, of course, bats. Bat motifs are everywhere, from hungry-looking bat decorations to strange costumes for kids that are a frankly ridiculous mix of human and bat bits. Bats emerge into the mainstream for a brief period in October, which is ironic as our native bats go into hibernation from October/November until spring. In fact, this really makes Halloween the big farewell party for bats until next year.

Bats are the only true flying mammals (not gliding fakers like those American squirrels). They may not be the cutest mammal – close-ups of bat faces really don’t do anything for them and you are not going to get Facebook suggestions for cute videos of bats doing cute things with puppies, but they are worthy of our interest as it turns out they are pretty mysterious creatures that may eventually reveal the secrets to eternal youth.