Useful insect exterminators in search of accommodation
17 bat species are native to Chemnitz - Environment Agency asks for information on the furry fluttering creatures
Bats - still a somewhat scary-looking animal for some people - are an important part of the native animal world: as the only actively flying mammals, these useful insect exterminators exude a certain fascination with their appearance and way of life, but unfortunately had to be placed under strict legal protection due to their serious endangerment. The problem is that native bats are losing their roosts, i.e. their quarters, on a large scale. Reason enough for the city's environmental department to ask attentive and nature-loving citizens to help in the search for "living space" for these special animals. After all, the little bats - the smallest weighing just five grams and the largest 40 grams - are not scary, but they are very secretive in their way of life. Humans can't even hear them, as they orientate themselves with ultrasonic sounds beyond our hearing range.
But it is precisely this stealth that makes their protection so complicated: If people are happy about the demolition of a ruined building and/or the renovation of structures, valuable roosts for bats are often lost - without people noticing. However, if such bat roosts are known beforehand, replacement roosts can often be installed, such as special stones or boxes, or existing roosts can be preserved in a targeted manner. Information about bat roosts is therefore a very concrete help for the conservation of these animals and contributes significantly to the preservation of biodiversity - an important topic not only in the Year of Biodiversity.
Contact: The city's environmental department is therefore asking citizens for their support: If bats are sighted and/or dead animals are found, droppings are discovered or other indications of the presence of these beneficial creatures are made, then please contact nature conservation helper Marko Eigner - even if you are unsure or have questions about bats, he is the person to contact on 0160 / 915 37 285 and by email m-eigner(at)freenet.de
Background: In winter, the furry fluttering creatures usually move into old cellars or mines, such as rock domes, where they spend their hibernation. Their summer quarters, on the other hand, are often very human-centred: Bats spend their days in attics, behind wooden panelling or shutters, but also in other crevices in and around houses. They only go hunting at dusk. Depending on the species - there are 25 species of bat in Germany, 17 of them in Chemnitz - moths, spiders, flies, mosquitoes and beetles are on the bats' menu.
However, their nocturnal lifestyle means that people are often unaware of the existence of these animals. Only if you observe bats flying out or can identify the strange crumbs on the ground as bat droppings can you deduce the existence of a hanging place - bats spend the day hanging upside down - or even a nursery. A maternity roost is a group of several females that raise their young - one or two a year, depending on the species - together in this group.
Contact: The city's Environmental Agency has a documentation of bat roosts and individual findings known to the Lower Nature Conservation Authority, which is constantly updated and updated. Interested citizens can obtain information on these roosts and the individual species on request from the Lower Nature Conservation Authority.