Top 3 Reasons Why Bats Rock Our World
Guest Post By Javier Folgar, founder of TOA Waters and conservationist.
This week is Bat Week, an annual celebration of the role of bats in nature. Bats have always been an unsung hero with a global impact. They hung around (pun intended) the earth for over 50 million years, providing vital support to our natural world and economy.
Although we may not always see them, bats are hard at work flying around at night. With over 1,400 different species, I bet you didn’t realize these top 3 benefits that bats provide to us.
1. They Consume Nasty Insects
Who needs pesticides when you have bats in your backyard?
Bats on average can eat up to half of their body weight in insect each night. Pregnant and nursing bats need even more food and can eat up to 100% of their body weight! That’s like a 130 pound pregnant woman eating 346 cheeseburgers every day! Pass the ketchup please.
Bats eat so many insects that scientists estimate that they may save U.S. farmers about $23 billion each year from damage to their crops and reducing the need for pesticides.
2. They Pollinate our Plants and Flowers
You guessed it — bats are amazing pollinators. Bats help pollinate some of our favorite foods like agave, cocoa, bananas, and guavas. Without their support, we’d be missing a key ingredient from our banana Sundays!
3. They Disperser Seeds Across our Lands
Bats help to regrow our forests by dispersing seeds across the land. Many fruit-eating bats, for instance, drop seeds back into the ground, encouraging regrowth.
Fun fact: Seeds dropped by bats make up for 95% of the first new growth in clear-cut forests. Fruit bats love to cover long distances each night and are capable of flying over these clear areas. When flying over, they scatter more seeds than any other animal, helping to regrow these critical areas.
You’re not the only one that now loves bats. TOA Waters, a small start-up bubble bath company, has released a new bubble bath called Cara Cara in celebration of Bat Week.
You must be wondering, what does bubble bath have to do with bats? And do I really want to take a bath that smells like guano?
Fear not, this bat-inspired bubble bath does not smell like guano. Instead, it pulls inspiration from such fragrances as guava and agave — fruits pollinated by bats. Best part, TOA Waters will be donating 10% of net sales from the Cara Cara bubble bath to organizations that protects bats worldwide.
Learn more by visiting TOAwaters.com.
Javier Folgar, President of TOA Waters.
Mr. Folgar is considered a conservationist by day, “soapatier” by night. With over a decade of experience in the nonprofit world, Mr. Folgar has served in key roles protecting wildlife and our natural & cultural resources, including working for a nonprofit that works towards ending bat extinctions worldwide.
