Bat's ???

[JJ Jr]

. When I reminded him that bats were native, cats were introduced to North America, are the second highest reason for the extinction of small animals in North America and kill simply for the sake of killing, he asked me to remove his name from my list of contacts. No problem.

I have cats and dogs and guess I've heard pretty much it all.
I like to remind people that dogs also were introduced here and dogs, God love 'em, also are wonderful at devouring deer scat, cow scat, horse scat as well as the uncanny ability to consume more maggots per pound of their body weight than maybe any other critter on earth. Not to mention they been known, quite often themselves, to kill for the pleasure of the kill. Thankfully not all do as they seem to be in every crevice and corner and house in the good ol' USA
Guess cats get a one up over a dog in this case as they don't often eat dead and decaying things.

[fishlkmich]

I thought that dogs were ancestors of gray wolves and were domesticated 10,000 - 20,000 years ago. Where were dogs introduced from? Remind me.

I would also like an example of a dog killing for the sake of killing. They usually eat what they kill, or are trained to kill. If trained to kill, that would be on command, not for pleasure. Killing for food is a genetic pack animal trait, evolved from their wolf origins.

[loghousenut]

Humans are an introduced species (everywhere but Africa) and they kill for the sake of killing. I'm guessing we (we "Humans") are related to cats somehow. Some of us have been known to kill bats and rats and even other Humans just because we can.

Here, I go all philosophical as I ponder whether it is better for a Human to kill a rat and let it rot, or kill another Human and do the cannibal thing. Just the wanderings of an aging Human mind. Hahah

So how do I get more bats to hang around outside and less of them inside?

[fishlkmich]

I thought that humans introduced themselves to North America (migration), over the now gone land bridge.

Humans are the #1 reason for species extinction. Cats came in second. It is better to kill a rat. Don't question it.

Build bat houses.

[Pugsleeplikelog]

My Pug Sausage killed 2 birds in his life, brought one in the house as a gift, the other he let his offspring eat. I suspect that these birds weren't physically destined to get old, as they were both young. Maybe God provided to teach Sausage how to survive off-grid. Then there's Snickers, who at the age of 12 weeks caught and promptly consumed a mouse. Then there's the mouse we had in the house, which I had to point out to the Pugs. I think they considered that one a roommate.

[LogHomeFeverDan]

My father was voted the "Purple Martin landlord of the year" in 2001, by the Purple Martin Conservation Association. I have studied and worked with this species for many years.

There was a fellow who owned an aluminum products manufacturing business many years ago. When plastics replaced a lot of aluminum applications, the manufacturing business almost went broke. This guy needed a new product line to save his factory. He decided to build Purple Martin products and as an advertisement gimmick, he printed "A purple Martin can eat 2,000 mosquitoes per day!". That is a true statement. "I can eat 5,000 mosquitoes per day." is also a true statement. I don't eat mosquitoes, but I could. The guy was a genius! He still prints this on his martin products and probably 99% of the U.S. population believes that Purple Martins eat mosquitoes. Extensive studies have proven that they don't, but the fable lives on. You should see the size of the dragonflies that martins bring in to feed their kids!

I don't try to convince people that martins don't eat mosquitoes, anymore. But, birds eat during the day. Mosquitoes are generally out in the dusk/dark. Martins feed exclusively on flying insects, high in the air. Mosquitoes are usually close to the ground. It goes on, but you get the point.

Another Purple Martin "host" (the eastern species of martin relies upon man to provide nest boxes and is now totally dependent on us for its continued existence) wrote to me, proudly, about his cat killing a bat. When I reminded him that bats were native, cats were introduced to North America, are the second highest reason for the extinction of small animals in North America and kill simply for the sake of killing, he asked me to remove his name from my list of contacts. No problem.

I sit, corrected. I guess all those lake areas we've frequented that have mosquito challenges and then you move near the occupied purple martin houses and no more mosquito challenges, are anecdotal.