Since finally returning home from a year of extensive travel on behalf of bats, Merlin has been preoccupied with final editing and photo submission for his new book, The Secret World of Bats, My Adventures with the World’s Most Misunderstood Mammals (for release by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, October 2015), writing to publishers in response to greatly exaggerated stories speculating bats to be sources of diseases like Ebola and preparing to launch a website (February 24) for his newly founded conservation organization, Merlin Tuttle’s Bat Conservation. On February 28 he will be one of eight speakers featured at the 2015 Texas Pollinators Powwow, an all-day event hosted by the Ladybird Johnson Wildflower Center in Austin, Texas. His hour-long talk (12:40 – 1:40 PM) will feature bat pollinators of the Americas, with emphasis on their ecosystem contributions. The event is designed to foster improved communication, awareness and preparation for resource managers to participate in pollinator conservation, but is also open to the public.
Congress Ave Bats Feed on a Diverse Buffet of Insects
On warm summer evenings, as the hum of insects fills the air, it’s common to hear someone exclaim, “We could use some bats to handle