New Animal Tracks Online

The Animal Tracks Online site has been revised and updated. New features include a database-driven calendar and national news feeds. You can use this blog as a forum to comment on animal/environment related issues or to just read what others have to say.

All about bats

Bat Conservation International, Inc. has a great bat site http://www.batcon.org/ that also has a Bat Cam http://www.batcon.org/bathospitalcam/

Click on the Meet the Colony link (http://www.batcon.org/bcibats.html) for a close-up view of the bats eating lettuce and cantalope; listen to the sounds they make. This site also has lots of conservation/educational links and information presented in a very entertaining way. It also has directions for making a bat box.

The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) has some very useful and interesting bat info. http://www.hsus.org > Wildlife > A Closer Look at Wildlife > Bats Bat Facts

Some HSUS Bat Facts:

• Bats have been known to adopt orphan bats.
• Bats have been observed risking their lives to share food with other bats.
• Bats may resemble rodents, but scientists believe they are more closely related to primates.
• A single little brown bat can catch more than 1,000 mosquitoes in just one hour, while a colony of 150 big brown bats can protect local farmers from as many as 18 million rootworms each summer.
• Plants important to humans—including bananas, breadfruit, mangoes, cashews, dates, and figs—depend on bats for pollination and seed dispersal.
• Bats are exceptionally vulnerable to extinction because their reproductive rate is the slowest of the world's smaller mammals, with only one offspring produced annually.
• Enjoy watching bats, especially at dusk, but never attempt to touch a bat.
  Bats are wild animals and are afraid of humans. A bat who allows you to touch him or her may be sick.
• Because bats are not aggressive, you need only leave them alone to be safe.
• If you find a live bat on the ground, call your local animal control agency or health department. Do not disturb bats, particularly when they are hibernating.
  
  
  
  The Ohio Department of Natural Resources, Division of Wildlife has bat information and activities for elementary-school-age children http://www.dnr.state.oh.us/wildlife/ > For WildKids > Color Me Batty and information about the Indiana Bat (Sept. and Oct. are its prime breeding season); efforts to protect it; and things you can do to help: http://www.dnr.state.oh.us/wildlife/ > Indiana Bat > Life History Notes: Indiana Bat Myotis sodalis

Fuel Efficient & Alternative Fuel Vehicles

Visit the Central Ohio Clean Fuels Coalition site for gasoline conservation tips; a hybrid return-on-investment calculator; the 2005 Buyer's Guide for alternative fuel vehicles (hybrid electric vehicles-HEVs, flexible fuel vehicles-FFVs, natural gas & propane-powered vehicles, biodiesel, and electric vehicles); and a list of alternative fuel retailers in central Ohio (Biodiesel & Ethanol).

Great Horned Owls in Westerville, Ohio

A great horned owl nested in a tree across from Sharon Woods Park and had two owlets. The nest was a red-tailed hawk nest.