21st Century Ultimate Guide to Bats: Caves, Habitat, Endangered Species, Bat Census, Rabies, Wildflowers, Echo Location, Boxes, Insect Control, White-nose Syndrome (Two CD-ROM Set)

This up-to-date electronic book on two CD-ROMs has comprehensive coverage of bats, with detailed material from a number of government agencies about these interesting and important mammals. There is extensive material from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Fish and Wildlife Service, the National Biological Information Infrastructure, the Department of Interior, U.S. Geological Survey, Surface Mining, Forest Service, Centers for Disease Control (CDC), NASA, and the Department of Defense. Coverage includes: White-nose Syndrome; Endangered Species (including the Indiana bat), Habitat Preservation, Pollination, Rabies, Wildflowers, Echo Location, Bat Boxes, Insect Control, Caves, Climate Change, mining issues, and the Bat Census by species and location. This extraordinary, encyclopedic collection about bats contains more than 17,000 pages reproduced in Adobe Acrobat PDF files. "Over 920 species of bats exist worldwide, accounting for nearly one quarter of all known mammal species and distinguishing Chiroptera as the second most specious mammalian order next to rodents. The name Chiroptera means "hand-winged," and bats exist as the only mammals to exhibit true flight using wings adapted from arm, hand, and finger appendages. The use of sonar-like echolocation to navigate and hunt for food during nighttime hours is characteristic to bats. Bats are one of the least studied and most misunderstood mammals, particularly in the United States. They are also considered to be among the most beneficially influential mammal species to humans, plants, and other wildlife. The global importance of bats in pollination, seed dispersal, and insect control has been proven to be extremely significant. Unfortunately, human ignorance, fear, myth, habitat destruction, and bats' slow reproductive rates continue to contribute to the decline of many bat species worldwide. Forty percent of American bat species are either in severe decline or have already been listed as endangered. Because of bats' role in keeping crop pest insects in check, bat declines in agricultural regions can have negative economic effects for both farmers and consumers as a result of increased annual crop damage. Ecologically, the extirpation of bats from an area can increase the need for use of chemical pesticides, as well as leave plant communities that rely on bats for pollination and seed dispersal without reproductive capabilities - potentially threatening entire ecosystems." USDA publication quote