During a recent tour, a young girl introduced herself to Jade Salamone by saying, “I’m horrified of bats.”
But that sentiment turned when the girl came face-to-face with the creatures. Salamone beamed when she described the girl’s changed perspective.
“She was not scared,” said Salamone, a bat keeper. “She was in love.”
That’s one of the missions of Lubee Bat Conservancy in northeast Gainesville: educating the public about the critters often considered creepy. The conservancy conducts year-round research and uses the fall months — particularly the Halloween season — to capitalize on the heightened interest.
The conservancy hosts a yearly bat festival, which took place last weekend, as well as private group tours throughout the year.
Getting people close to bats is one way to debunk misconceptions about the animals, said Brian Pope, the conservancy’s director.
“Bats are not these scary, rabid, nasty-looking things,” he said. “They are cute, they’re charismatic, and they’re gregarious. This is a really good introduction to dispel some of these myths.”
The more than 200 bats at the conservancy come from tropical climates, enjoy eating fruit and like daylight. They aren’t blind and don’t use echolocation. The Malayan flying fox bats, one of the seven flying fox species housed at the conservancy, are among the largest in the world and can have wingspans of six feet.
Out of the about 1,300 species of bats in the world, only three species are vampire bats. Pope said public misunderstanding of that fact can reflect poorly on all of the species.
“That gives them a bad rap,” he said.
The Lubee bats don’t live in dark caves, and they don’t haunt houses. Their abode is a collection of octagonal enclosures bathed in sunlight. And they, in fact, paint pictures.
One afternoon last week, Bilbo, a Malayan flying fox bat, clung to the side of a small black wire cage hung on his enclosure.
Inside the small cage was a blue canvas. Bilbo grabbed and nibbled at pieces of cantaloupe attached to the ends of long-handled paintbrushes.
As Bilbo wiggled the brushes, the ends dipped in paint swept across the canvas, creating a picture reminiscent of the abstract art style.
The art projects are one way researchers are trying to create a more positive perception of bats. The conservancy sells the paintings online for $25 and at the bat festival.
“It’s a great education tool to help people see how they manipulate items,” Salamone said. “It really helps people see them in a new light.”
Like the young girl, most visitors end up realizing humans and bats aren’t so different after all. The Lubee bats live near Gainesville, some have to exercise regularly, and they all have a knack for fun.
“They like to play with toys, they like things that make noise, and they like to take things apart,” Pope said. “We definitely like to give them a good life.”
A version of this story ran on page 1 on 10/31/2013 under the headline "Bats, research facility dispel myths"
A flying fox snacks on grapes Oct. 21 at the Lubee Bat Conservancy. The conservancy, which is located about nine miles outside Gainesville, conducts bat research and hosts an annual bat festival open to the public. It aims to create a more positive perception of bats.
