In case this wasn't on your radar, yesterday, April 17, was International Bat Appreciation Day.
Every year on April 17, International Bat Appreciation Day gives us a chance to celebrate our flying and mostly nocturnal friends, celebrate biodiversity, and raise awareness about the important role bats play in our world ecosystem.
Here are a few interesting bat facts:
- Bats are the only mammals that can truly fly.
- Worldwide, there are over 1,400 different bat species and, contrary to popular opinion, they aren’t blind. They use echolocation (high-frequency sound waves) to create an "acoustic Image" of their surroundings that helps them get around and hunt in pitch-black environments.
- More than 50 species of bats live in US National Parks.
- Bats are critical to ecosystem health by acting as primary controllers of night-flying insects, serving as pollinators for over 500 plant species (including agave and bananas), and are dispersers of seeds. They provide immense economic value, saving the U.S. agricultural industry billions annually by reducing pesticide dependency.
Because we don’t often see them at work, it is easy to forget how integral bats are to the world and our environment. Let's do our part to protect bats! You can help bats by:
- Building a bat garden
- Installing species-appropriate bat boxes
- Humanely removing bats from your home when necessary. If you do find a bat in or around your home, call our community partner, Cottontail Cottage, (914) 933-7559 they are a licsensed Bat Rehabilitaton Site.
Curious about bats?
Read more about Bat Appreciation Day from the Internatioinal Union for Conservation of Nature. You can also connect with Gotham Bat Conservancy based out of NYC. Or, join Bat Conservation International. If you want to support a local bat rehabilitator in Westchester, follow @batty_smalls on Instagram and consider making a donation to support her bat rehab work.
In the coming months, Crestwood Library will be launching a citizen science initiative to help community members collect data on types of bats that are living in our neighborhood. Stay tuned for more information!
If you want to find out more about Bat Citizen Science, you can read Bat Count in English, Spanish, or digitally on Hoopla!
- Bat Count: A Citizen Science Story
- Contando los murciélagos : una historia de ciencias civicas
- Bat Count: A Citizen Science Story (Hoopla)
This is a collaboration from A to Z!
Alison Robles, a Yonkers native, is a Part-Time Librarian at Crestwood Library. She is an avid reader with a passion for Young Adult literature, historical fiction and fantasy.
Z is celebrating a decade of service as Branch Administrator at Crestwood Library in 2026, which also marks the Centennial of our Crestwood Library building. She LOVES bats, is a big bat advocate, is committed to protecting bats and educating the public about their contributions to our world. Z enjoys cultivating library experiences for patrons of all ages and connecting people with resources and has been doing so for over 30 years.