North Carolina Zoo Will Teach You How To Become More Attractive To Bats

By Rod Hackney

Asheboro, NC - In an effort to promote better understanding of one of nature’s more unusual and misunderstood animals, the North Carolina Zoo will hold its annual celebration of bats—Batology--on Saturday and Sunday, Nov. 1 & 2 at the park’s Sonora Desert exhibit in the North America region.

The event, which will run from 10 a.m. until 3 p.m. each day, will feature zoo keeper talks, demonstrations and bat feedings. (Visit the zoo’s Web site at www.nczoo.org for feeding times.)

It is likely that only snakes are more feared and more misunderstood than these nocturnal creatures--the only mammal naturally capable of true flight. Although bats have been depicted in folklore and films as creepy blood-suckers, they are actually beneficial to man and nature and, like so many other animals thought to be nuisances, are a vital part of our ecosystem.

The zoo is an agency of the N.C. Dept. of Environment & Natural Resources, William G. Ross Jr., Secretary; Michael F. Easley, Governor.