Bats Keep Coffee Plantation Bug-Free

Organic coffee is staying bug-free thanks to the help of bats. Researchers found that bats play a larger role than previously thought in devouring insects from organic Mexican coffee plantations where pesticides are prohibited.

Over 45 species of bats live on the Chiapas plantation in Mexico, where the study was done. Researchers found that when they prevented the bats from having access to the coffee bushes, the presence of insects increased by 84 percent.

Originally birds were given all the credit for eating the insects. The bats on the plantation were overlooked because they use an uncommon hunting technique. Instead of flying back and forth across the sky, homing in on bugs with echolocation, bats on the plantation simply hang from a branch above the coffee bushes and wait. When they hear their prey, they dive down, snatch it up and return to their perch.

Bats tend to get a bad rep—attacking vampire bats and disease are common associations. However, this finding shows how ecologically important bats really are.

--LiveScience Staff

• Video: How Bats Fly
• How Bats Track Bugs
• Bat Deaths in NY, Vt. Baffle Experts