In a number of Halloween tales, the characters become terrorized by flying “waves” of vampire bats. Visions of vampire bats can be truly frightening, but the vampire bat does not hold a monopoly on the ability to create fear among those who hear the beat of bat wings. At the same time a bat costume has been used successfully on at least one film hero. While batman represents a heroic character, not all bats lead a life that shows concern for the welfare of human beings.
Bats, like mosquitoes, can become carriers of dangerous microbes, such as bacteria or viruses. For example, any of the world’s bats, including vampire bats, could bite a wild animal that has been infected with rabies. If that bat could then bite a domesticated animal, and that animal, possibly a family pet, would develop rabies. That is why anyone who gets a dog bite should be tested for a rabies infection.
If any bat, including a vampire bat, does nothing but fly from cave to a source of food, that bat does not necessarily pose a threat or danger to humans in the area. Many bats fly out of caves every night and use their detection of echoes to guide them to a place where they can gorge on either tasty fruit or delicious insects. Those bats are not dangerous unless they pick-up some sort of infectious microbe.
Scientists have determined that that is exactly what happened to some of the bats in Africa. Research on vampire bats and other bats has shown that certain African bats are responsible for the spread of more than one of the world’s many viruses. Those viruses first appeared in Africa, and became carried by plane passengers or plane cargo to other corners of the globe. Once beyond the boundaries of Africa, control of a virus demands the creation of a new type of vaccine.
Research, such as that mentioned above, did not discount the frightening spectacle created by vampire bats. It did, however, underline the potential danger that might lurk within the habitat of any group of bats. It uncovered hidden dangers for the men and women who venture into and study the caves of the world.
That is unfortunate, because the world can reap real benefits from such exploration. The cave world offers organisms a unique habitat. For that reason, the cave world needs to be more carefully explored and studied. The organisms of the cave world need to be given an opportunity to reproduce themselves. Even vampire bats should be given that opportunity.
A world without vampire bats would lack an important element of Halloween. A world without such bats would no longer offer authors and screen writers a possible subject for a book or a movie. A world without vampire bats could also threaten to make jokes about vampire bats less funny, and thus less frequent.