Bats Come Home to Roost

摘要: Despite the considerable ecological diver sity present among bat species, a vast major ity are unable to build their own shelters and have to make use of available roosting sites. It comes as no surprise, therefore, that these very sociable animals are most keen to popu late areas that offer plenty of feeding sites and hideaways of various kinds. Their winter roosts include all sorts of cosy subterranean nooks: most frequently caves, underground shelters, mines, and basements, although bats can also hibernate in such strange places as rodent holes or alongside hibernating snakes, 0.7 m under the surface. Their summer roosts can be located in hollows and under the bark of trees, inside rock fissures, the attics of people's homes, church towers, breeding boxes set up for birds or bats, inside cracks in bridges or under window shutters. There are more than 1,100 bat species in the world, 22 of which occur in Poland.