Today in Lansing: MSU Fall 2018 Bat Walk

Fall 2018 Bat Walk

8 to 9 p.m.

Beaumont Tower

375 W Circle Dr., East Lansing

Click here for event page

WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 12 —Don’t stress out about vampirism when you take a late night walk to learn about Michigan’s nine species of bats.

“I’ve rescued bats in a lot of attics ,and not one got close to landing on me,” said Peter Fowler, community outreach chair of the Bat Association of Michigan State University. “They can see a single human hair with their echolocation.”

The tour starts with a short presentation on bats, and then moves to the topic of building inhabiting bat species at the Beaumont Tower and forest dwelling species of bats in the W.J. Beal Botanical Gardens.

“They are super important for agriculture and save $3 billion a year in pesticide use,” Fowler said. “As an agricultural school, you’d think MSU would care more about researching these animals. Understanding their health status is important, and almost nothing is known of their hibernation patterns. It’s an unexplored world.”

Using bio-acoustical equipment, the Bat Association of MSU will scale down the high frequency bat echolocation chirps to a frequency humans can hear.

“They produce different chirping based on what bugs types of bugs they are looking for. When they get closer, it increases in frequency, so they can increase their vision of sorts,” Fowler said.

Other community outreach events by the Bat Association of MSU include rescuing nuisance bats from households. The MSU Bat Association dubs it the Bat Response Team.

“This was a summer volunteer program where people are having issues with bats in their houses can get help getting them out safely. For people who can't afford exclusions because pest control is expensive, we do it.”

Unable to make the event? There will be a bat walk every Wednesday night in September.

For more information, visit www.batassociation.org

Other events in Lansing:

Food Frenzy

5 to 8 p.m., Holt Farmers' Market, 2150 Cedar St., Holt

History Hounds: Cass County and the Underground Railroad

7 to 8:30 p.m., Historical Society of Michigan, 5815 Executive Dr., Lansing

Astronomy on Tap

7:30 to 10 p.m., The Loft, 414 E. Michigan Ave., Lansing