y of "bat houses" they first set up on campus several years ago to fight bugs, saying that up to thousands of mosquitoes have since been eaten by the bats nightly. Chang Heng-chia, a teacher at Cheng Cheng Elementary School in Yunlin, said on a local television news broadcast that they decided six years ago to set up "bat houses" -- wooden cages in which bats can reside -- to lure the nocturnal predators when the population of mosquitoes and other bugs around the school rose to intolerable levels.
Chang, who earned the nickname "bat ace" for years of caring for the bats, said they drew the idea from documents explaining how insect populations can be reduced in a more eco-friendly way.
The first population to move into the bat houses was a group of Japanese house bats (pipistrellus abramus) -- a common species in East Asia, according to Chang. They were later joined by myotis formosus flavus -- a species endemic to Taiwan.
"The bats will leave during the colder seasons and return when temperatures rise," Chang said. "Sometimes, in the summer, there would be hundreds of bats inhabiting in the houses at the same time."
"On a rough estimate, a bat can eat several hundred, or even one thousand, bugs every night," Chang added.
Chang said the "bat method" proves to be an effective and natural means of fighting the pests. In addition, the school's pupils have had a better chance to observe and understand these animals up close.
Terms of use