Bat #kidlit In Time for Halloween

Right in time for Halloween, we have the children’s book Amazing, Misunderstood Bats by Marta Magellan with photographs by Merlin Tuttle.

Author Marta Magellan starts by explaining all the ways that bats are helpful, including that bats:

• Pollinate plants
• Disperse seeds
• Eat tons of insect pests
• Make a source of fertilizer (guano)

Then she explodes some of the common bat myths, such as bats are not blind at all. Finally, she explains why bats are fun.

We love back matter, and this book has many extra facts about bats, a glossary, selected references, and even an index.

The best part is the amazing photographs used to illustrate the book, many by famous bat scientist Merlin Tuttle.

Activity:  View a Nightly Bat Emergence

Bats rest during the day and hunt for food at night. During the warmer months of the year, there are areas where you can watch bats fly out in vast numbers during their evening emergence. Note:  check in advance for any viewing restrictions due to Covid.

A few examples include:

• The Bat Barns at the University of Florida in Gainesville
• Old Tunnel State Park at Fredericksburg, Texas
• Austin, Texas
• Phoenix, Arizona

Recently here in Phoenix bats were caught emerging on weather radar.

Bring along a notebook to sketch the bats and jot down your observations. Think about how scientists estimate the numbers of bats emerging, and look for common bat behaviors. What do you smell? What do you hear? Can you feel anything, like the air moving due to the bats’ wings?

Check out what to expect by watching the bats at Old Tunnel State Park in this video.

Related:

Five bat science activities (previous post)

Fly on over and see our growing list of children’s books about bats at Science Books for Kids.

Ages: 6-10
Publisher : Eifrig Publishing (January 9, 2020)
ISBN-10 : 1632332116
ISBN-13 : 978-1632332110

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Come visit the STEM Friday blog each week to find more great Science, Technology, Engineering and Math books.