Halloween marks a glorious celebration of all things spooky. It also caps a glorious week-long celebration of Colorado’s spookiest animal: Bats.
That’s right, it’s bat week.
Colorado is home to 18 species of bats, according to Colorado Parks and Wildlife. Unfortunately, 13 of those species hibernate, which typically begins in November and runs through March. And if they aren’t hibernating, they’re likely migrating to warmer climates.
This means you likely won’t see any of the flying beauties while hitting the streets for Halloween. But that doesn’t mean we can’t celebrate them during Halloween.
Contrary to their Halloween-inspired image, are generally harmless and likely fear humans more than we fear them.
— USDA Forest Service (@forestservice)
“Bats can fly, are often dark in color and tend to feed at night, leading some people to think of bats as one of nature’s spookier creatures,” CPW wrote in a 2018 news release.
Although most bat colonies are small with less than 100 bats, the Brazilian Free-Tailed Bats colony in San Luis Valley claims 250,000 family members, according to CPW.
Now, if you’re naysaying bats, remember that a healthy bat population helps control the population of insects, such as mosquitos and pests that threaten crops and plants.
So don’t forget about your bats. In the meantime, enjoy the slideshow showing off a variety of Colorado’s bats.
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