April 17 is International Bat Appreciation Day! Learn About One of the World's Oldest Bats
Rebecca West
Most people get wigged out by the thought of bats, especially the idea of them getting entangled in their hair. What many people don't realize, though, is just how much bats do for us and the planet.
The Impact of Bats
According to The Nature Conservancy, bats can eat up to 1,200 mosquitoes an hour! Often, bats consume their body weight in insects each night, helping to keep bug populations in check. Bat droppings, called guano, are one of the richest fertilizers in existence.
Lesser Long-Nosed bats are the main pollinator of Agave angustifolia (the mezcal plant) & A. tequilana (the tequila plant), giving them a crucial role in the two plants' survival. Without them, we might not have tequila. Consider that for a moment and let it sink in.
Bat Appreciation Day
In honor of the day, which was founded by Bat Conservation International, it's only fitting that a previously unrecognized species of bat has recently been identified. The ID is based on the oldest bat skeletons ever discovered via 52-million-year-old fossils seen in the Green River Formation of Wyoming. This would make them part of the Eocene period.
Named Icaronycteris gunnelli, the skeletons of the new species were previously believed to belong to another group. While more than 30 bat fossils have been unearthed in the area over the last 60 years, all of them have been attributed to the Icaronycteris index, which lived 50 million years ago — 2 million years less than the examples currently causing excitement in the bat world.
The Eocene Period
"Eocene bats have been known from the Green River Formation since the 1960s,” says Dr. Nancy Simmons, curator-in-charge of the American Museum of Natural History's Department of Mammalogy. "But interestingly, most specimens that have come out of that formation were identified as representing a single species, Icaronycteris index, up until about 20 years ago, when a second bat species belonging to another genus was discovered. I always suspected that there must be even more species there."
This latest finding supports the idea that bats diversified quickly on different continents around this period. While teeth from bats that once lived in Asia point to even earlier bat specimens, the newly investigated fossils are the oldest bat skeletons found to date.
Research Studies
If you're interested in learning more, the results of the study were published in the journal Plos One. You can also click the link above for the wildlife group Bat Conservation International to better understand the different ways you, as an individual, can help these often maligned creatures.
