Bat Appreciation & Conservation with Jennifer Longsdorf featured this week on the “Morning Show”
October 8, 2024October 8, 2024
This Week on the “Morning Show”
Bat Appreciation & Conservation with
Jennifer Longsdorf
I first learned about how amazing bats are, and how vital their services are to humans when I had the opportunity to witness the nightly migration of thousands of Mexican free-tail bats from underneath the Congress Avenue Bridge in Austin, Texas a number of years ago. SO, in honor of October as Bat Appreciation Month, Jennifer Longsdorf, Program Coordinator for the Natural Heritage & Endangered Species Program for Massachusetts Division of Fisheries & Wildlife, will visit the show this week to discuss bat conservation.
Jennifer and I will talk about the distinctive features of the world’s only flying mammal, including echolocation and ultra-violet vision. Noting that bats have “an image problem,” Longsdorf will correct misconceptions people may have about bats, including, for example, the false impression that they are aggressive or that they suck blood.
Jennifer will clarify the important services bats provide to humans, chief among which is the consumption of massive amounts of crop-damaging insects, which in turn reduces pesticide usage, makes food safer, and reduces pollution. Furthermore, we need bats for the pollination of more than 300 species of fruit, including bananas, avocados, and mangoes.
Bats currently face numerous threats ranging from habitat destruction to an outbreak of White-nose syndrome, a fungal infection that has killed more than 6.7 million bats since it began in 2006. Jennifer will identify steps we can take to help with bat conservation, and explain why it matters.
For information about bats, visit www.mass.gov/bats
How to Find “The Morning Show”
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Visit www.NCMHub.org, click YouTube, then Playlist & scroll down to the “Morning Show”
Listen on WJOP (FM 96.3) on Friday at 8 AM, or the following Tues. 4 p.m. or Wed, at 3 p.m.
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