Enrichment for Humans: Backyard Bats
Nocturnal animals are hard to see in the wild, so it isn’t always as easy to learn about them! If you go outside as the sun is setting and watch the sky, especially in natural areas with trees, water sources, and street lights, you can usually spot a bat or two flying overhead. There are over 1,400 species of bat found all over the world, including your backyard! In this activity, we’ll learn a little bit more about our fluffy flying neighbors.
Before you begin:
Many people are still frightened of bats, despite the wealth of information we now have about how helpful bats are to the ecosystem. Nocturnal animals often get a bad reputation because they are hard to see and understand, but many nocturnal animals like bats, possums, skunks, and aye-ayes are both fascinating and worthy of our appreciation.
What you’ll need:
- Access to the Bat Conservation International website (Batcon.org)
- The attached worksheet
- Pencil/drawing materials
Instructions:
- Visit the Bat Conservation International website (Batcon.org). You can take some time to look around the website, or go directly to https://www.batcon.org/about-bats/bat-profiles/ for the activity.
- Go to the “Location” drop-down bar and scroll down until you find your state. Click on your state in the drop-down menu to see what bat species also call your state home.
- Find one bat species you would like to focus on, and click on their picture to read their profile. At the bottom of each bat’s profile page, you can see a map of their range.
- Use the information on the profile page for your bat to complete the worksheet.
- If you learned something cool about your chosen bat, tell someone about it!
