European bat night
The European Bat Night (English: European Bat Night) is an annual event in many European cities and regions. It is organized by local nature and species protection associations and serves to provide information about native bat populations and their habitats. The bat night is particularly family and child-friendly. Depending on the organizer, exhibitions, film screenings and lectures are offered, often evening excursions to bat roosts and hunting areas. Bats can not only be observed, but also perceived acoustically with the help of so-called bat detectors . In Germany, the Bat Night is funded by the Naturschutzbund Deutschland (NABU) and other local or regional nature conservation associations.
history
The first European Bat Nights were celebrated in Poland and France in the 1990s. Since 1997 the event has been under the auspices of the Agreement for the Conservation of European Bat Populations (EUROBATS) . Since then it has established itself in more than 30 European countries. In 2006, for the tenth Bat Night, around 270 events took place in Germany alone. The event is traditionally dated for the last weekend in August; however, the choice of date is basically left to the organizers.
Purpose of the event
Effective public relations work as well as the cooperation and understanding of private individuals are particularly important for bat protection, as the animals also and above all move to their winter and summer quarters in houses, churches and other buildings used by humans. The bat night is intended to impart knowledge about the habitats and behavior of bats and to reduce people's fear of contact in order to ensure effective protection of the animals.