Are Bats Dangerous?

This week, I read the article “ Are Bats Dangerous? ”. Most of students have many misconceptions and fears about bats. Actually, bats are fascinating and beneficial animals. This article poi... See More

This week, I read the article “ Are Bats Dangerous? ”. Most of students have many misconceptions and fears about bats. Actually, bats are fascinating and beneficial animals. This article points out several misconceptions which people usually have by introducing some facts about bats. One is that people believe bats make nests in people’s hair, but bats don’t build nests, they hang upside down at their roost, a place where bats hang, and roosts are not made of nesting material, such as grass and twigs. Another misconception is bats attack people. However, in fact, when bats are flying around people, they are eating the insects near us, which are drawn to us by our body heat. Also, one of the reasons that most people are afraid of bats is that they think all bats are vampire bats, or bats that feed on blood. There are a few species of bats called“vampire” bats, bats that feed on the blood of birds and other animals, particularly livestock. According to this article, I learned some benefits of bats, such as eating tons of bugs, helping reforestation by dispersing seeds, and so on. I really enjoyed reading this article because some misconceptions which were introduced were ones that I used have, and I achieved a deeper understanding about bats now. Correcting the misconceptions is an excellent approach to learn new knowledge. Nowadays ,when bats are endangered, people should take time to share the truth about the bats, let our family, friends, and relatives know bats are beneficial, that we can call on more and more people to participate in various activities to protect bats. Williams, K. (2004). Science 101: Are bats dangerous? Science and Children, January, 10.